Written question asked by David Burrowes (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 February 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 22 February 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Serious Organised Crime Agency: Performance Standards

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to establish a performance target for the Serious and Organised Crime Agency relating to the seizure of Class A drugs.

Answer: [holding answer 22 February 2008]: Setting a target relating to the seizure of Class A drugs would risk creating perverse incentives by encouraging the pursuit of seizures at the expense of a focus on the criminal networks and markets doing the most harm. We believe that the performance of SOCA is better measured on the basis of the quality of understanding of serious organised crime; the amounts of criminal assets recovered; evidence that criminals are finding the UK a less attractive market; and the quality of SOCA's relationships with others. SOCA reports against these measures in its annual reports.

Secondary information