The Home Office Research and Statistics Department has a central role in the use of data for policy purposes. The Department has some 240 statisticians, researchers, economists, computer specialists, data collectors, and administrative staff. They work in the same building as policy colleagues. Statistics influence policy analysis with respect to the measurement of crime and police workloads, the work of the prosecutors, court cases and sentencing, and the work of the probation and prison services. The British Crime Survey and police statistics measure crime. Other databases cover prosecutions, the courts, offender, probation, and prisons. The ongoing shift to UNIX-based computing techniques is reducing the expenditures on statistical databases.