The Home Office Trends in Crime model attempts to explain annual changes in recorded crime by reference to changes in economic, demographic and criminal justice variables. While it cannot account for all the factors that impact on crime rates, it has shown that economic and demographic factors have an important role to play.
It predicts that, if other factors remain constant, a permanent 1 per cent increase in the growth rate of consumption expenditure reduces the growth rate of crime by about 1.7 per cent. On a similar basis, an increase of 1 per cent in the growth rate of the proportion of young males in the population would increase the growth of crime by about 0.5 per cent.
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How many ministers does it take to change a light bulb? We ask because the Department for International Development spent £4,311 in 2003-04 on replacing light bulbs in its London offices. That is the equivalent of almost £12 a day. It is looking at ways to manage energy use.
In the six years since 1998, items stolen from the Department for International Development’s property include 18 laptops, 10 computers, 5 vehicles, 3 printers, 3 telephones, 2 scanners, 2 projectors, 2 digital cameras, 1 video camera and 1 fax machine. The cost of theft for this period was £95,841.
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Anyone who is considering working into their seventies and beyond, as the Government would like us all to do, need not apply to the Treasury for a job. Eight out of its ten departments and agencies will not consider employment applications from people over the age of 65. At the Treasury itself, no one over the age of 59 need apply, and at the Debt Management Office, the age limit is 60 “unless there is a business justification”. Only National Savings and Investments and the Government Actuaries have no maximum age limit.