Auditors have said a £927 million crime fighting fund had helped cut offending by 22 per cent since 1999.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has said Home Office grants to Police Basic Command Units, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in England and Community Safety Partnerships in Wales had cut crime.

The NAO said the Home Office could achieve even greater reductions in crime by reducing the administrative burden on local partnerships to release more money for crime prevention initiatives instead.

Partnerships have been innovative in finding new ways to tackle crime but the NAO found that there is scope for greater review of projects in order to understand which are most effective.

The NAO found that successful projects target underlying causes of crime through a strong analysis of local data and by drawing on lessons learned.

But only 44 of the 72 projects examined had specific, measurable and realistic targets.

There is also scope for the greater sharing of experience by Partnerships to avoid repeating mistakes made elsewhere and to spread the benefits of successful projects.

Sir John said: "The Home Office is funding a diverse array of crime reduction projects, many of which are innovative and contributing towards reductions in reported levels of crime.

"This is welcome. There is scope, however, for increased review of projects so that more is known about why the successful ones work and why the unsuccessful ones do not.

"Resources could also be used more effectively and more significant reductions in crime achieved if the burden upon Partnerships of having to administer complex funding grant conditions were minimised

Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: "It is encouraging that the independent NAO finds that innovative Home Office crime reduction initiatives have contributed to the reduction in crime as reported by the British Crime Survey.

"Crime is down and there have been dramatic, sustained reductions in property crime, which makes up the vast majority of offences.

"The chance of being a victim of crime is at its lowest for more than twenty years and fear of crime has also started to come down.

"The government's pioneering Crime Reduction Programme was the first ever programme of innovative crime reduction projects.

"With such an innovative, ambitious programme there have been, of course, lessons to be learned.

"The expert knowledge gained from the crime reduction programme has helped refine and develop local crime reduction work to make it more effective on the ground.

"We have made significant changes to the way we fund crime reduction work, reducing bureaucracy and streamlining the process. Good practice is also being shared more effectively, through the crime reduction website, regular newsletters and workshops".