Meeting of the Parliament 19 November 2015
I acknowledge the work of all those involved, past and present, across Scotland’s justice authorities. The proposed changes are not a reflection on their work, and their work so far should be highlighted and, indeed, appreciated.
As a member who takes an interest in the welfare of women, it is of interest that the bill was introduced due to concerns in a report by the commission on women offenders, which stated that there were significant structural and funding barriers to the effective delivery of offender services in the community and that radical reform was required. Equally, Audit Scotland found:
“Many bodies are involved in reducing reoffending. They have different governance and accountability arrangements and different geographic boundaries, resulting in a complex landscape.”
Women offenders were central to those concerns, because even the prison service found that it had to deal with many different authorities on throughcare for prisoners after their release from prison.
The complex landscape is unhelpful not only to the prison service but, more important, to individuals who require community justice services. It is easy to see that, with so many organisations involved, individuals fall through the net and, feeling unsupported, ultimately reoffend and return to prison.
As Dame Elish Angiolini pointed out in the case of women, we are potentially talking about individuals who have mental health problems and require support to prevent their reoffending. Indeed, the 2009-10 statistics show that 30 per cent of convicted offenders who were reconvicted within one year were individuals with mental health difficulties. The cycle of continuous return to prison does not help.
Change is certainly required, so it is positive to note that the Scottish Government is developing national outcomes for community justice with partners and stakeholders. I understand that the draft outcomes attempt to address the two main issues with the current model that I have touched on so far, with structural and person-centric outcomes including greater equality of access to services for people with a history of offending.
The report by the commission on women offenders recommended a national service for community justice as well as assurance that better local outcomes for women offenders would be addressed at a national level. Members will note that, as part of the bill, a new national agency will be formed that will be called community justice Scotland. The idea of having a central agency to provide strong leadership to drive forward improvements in community justice outcomes and to provide oversight and support for the delivery of community justice services is a welcome prospect.
Welcome also is the allowing of local flexibility and planning in the delivery of community justice services through groups of community justice partners in Scotland’s 32 local authorities. Such partners include the local councils, the police, the health boards, the fire service, the prison service, the courts and Skills Development Scotland. The key to the bill’s success is in its name: community justice. More local delivery of services will allow local circumstances to be considered and therefore, as with many other local services, we should see positive results.
It is hoped that the proposed new model for community justice will achieve an appropriate balance between strong national leadership and local flexibility. It will offer a more collaborative approach to community justice that is driven both nationally and locally by the common aim of securing better outcomes for people and communities. I whole-heartedly agree with the Scottish Government that local leadership and ownership of community justice will be vital to the success of the new model, and I welcome the fact that responsibility for resolving local issues will rest with local statutory community justice partners. However, the national body will be there to provide support, assistance and advice.
I understand that the bill will continue to respect lines of accountability. Through strong national leadership and local delivery, the bill should go a long way towards helping to prevent reoffending. However, the bill also seeks to reform the cluttered landscape that we often talk about and which impedes community justice. Through closer co-ordination, there is a good prospect that that will be achieved.
As a member of the Justice Committee, I will continue to listen to the views of all groups and individuals who have a vested interest in community justice, and I encourage everyone to have their say. I welcome the submissions that have been made so far. This is just the first stage in providing what I hope will be a new model of community justice in Scotland and in strengthening the local strategic planning of community justice services. I am sure that, between now and the final vote on the bill, together we can bring about what the bill desires to achieve.
I commend the Government for introducing the bill, particularly on behalf of women, and I further commend its continuing passage through the Parliament, with a good end result.
15:33