New report shows UK corruption ‘has increased’

An index showing the relative levels of perceived corruption in over 150 countries has been released today. The index shows that people in the UK believe that corruption in the country is getting worse.

53.4 per cent of people said they believed corruption has increased in the UK in the last three years; only 2.5 per cent of respondents believed that corruption has decreased.

High levels of corruption exist in sport and political parties in the UK, the organisation said, but prisons are a major area of concern. In a report published earlier this year, it was estimated that up to 1000 prison officers in the UK are currently involved in smuggling mobile phones into prisons and 600 officers are involved in an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner. The report also said that the drugs trade within prisons is worth approximately £100 million a year, with the price of drugs inside prison inflated to around 1,000 per cent of their street value.

Transparency International (TI), an organisation which seeks to raise awareness about corruption around the globe, produced the Corruptions Perceptions Index.

Chandrashekhar Krishnan, Executive Director of Transparency International UK said: “Disturbingly, there is complacency and a lack of knowledge of the extent of the problem in key sectors. Some of our most trusted institutions are vulnerable, and there are inadequate procedures to detect and prevent corruption.”

India was ranked at 95 , placing it around the middle of the 182 countries assessed. Out of those surveyed, 74 per cent of Indians think corruption has increased in last three years and only 25 per cent think that their government’s efforts to fight corruption have been effective. Corruption takes many forms in the country including bribery in government.

The UK was ranked 16th in the index under Australia, Barbados and Canada.

New Zealand came first in the index.

Somalia and Afghanistan were ranked at the bottom of the index. Humanitarian funds have been diverted away from victims of natural disasters and civil conflicts in Somalia, for example when famine hit the Horn of Africa earlier this year.

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