Hansard

I am pleased to be debating the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill. I have long campaigned for a more effective and compassionate justice system—one that reduces reliance on incarceration and focuses on community reparations and rehabilitation. There is a surfeit of evidence that poverty, inequality and crime are inextricably linked, yet we keep sending people to prison and reoffending rates remain high and largely static.

The chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, Colin McConnell, was recently quoted as saying:

“I am not at all proud of the fact that we incarcerate more of our fellow Scots per head of the population than almost every other developed nation across western Europe. Our apparent obsession with incarceration, disproportionately impacting as it does on the most deprived in our society, casts a dark shadow”.

Colin McConnell is right to say that punishment and retribution have dominated penal policy for too long. The economic and social costs of offending and reoffending are immense. We waste so many resources picking up the pieces. Lives are ruined, communities are blighted and potential is lost.

When we look at those who are in our criminal justice system, we see that we have failed to tackle the underlying problems: mental health problems, a history of abuse, addiction, poverty, exclusion from education, and being in the care system. We know what lies behind the chaotic lives that lead to prison. Worse than that, we also know what makes a difference. It is time for a change. The bill could—I stress the word “could”—be the change that we need.

Liberal Democrats want safer communities, people brought to justice when they offend and robust community justice schemes. We also want everyone to have a chance to get back on track. A robust but compassionate targeted community justice system that is flexible enough to respond to individual needs will benefit everyone in Scotland.

The genesis of the bill was the report on women offenders from the Angiolini commission, which highlighted

“the disparate nature of arrangements”

for offenders,

“the lack of strategic leadership and accountability in the delivery of offender services in the community; a cluttered landscape; short-term funding; inconsistent service provision and difficulties in measuring impact”,

all of which the commission identified as greatly inhibiting the potential to reduce reoffending. The commission concluded that a radical reform of existing systems and working practices was required.

In the intervening three years, the proposals have been through many iterations. Many argue that what the Government proposes in the bill is a compromise too far and that, although the bill is well intentioned, as drafted it is too timid to bring about the dramatic change that is needed. I share some of those concerns. We should not shy away from more radical change if that is what it takes.

In its report on CJAs, Audit Scotland also criticised the cluttered landscape. That is not getting any better; in fact, there is a risk that the bill will make the landscape more jumbled and opaque.

In supplementary written evidence, the conveners of community justice authorities told us:

“we remain very concerned that issues around authority, responsibility, accountability and leadership remain unresolved.”

In a briefing from seven organisations, including the Howard League for Penal Reform, we learned that

“If we are to reduce the use of imprisonment in Scotland, there will need to be a greater shift in emphasis and resources towards early prevention, diversion and community-based responses to offending behaviour. Good intentions are not enough. We must ensure that any proposed structural changes have a realistic chance of achieving this shift. While we welcome the creation of a national body with a specific focus on non-custodial sentencing, we are concerned that it does not have the necessary powers to deliver the fundamental change required.”

I urge the Government to heed the warnings in our committee report and to lodge stage 2 amendments that address some of the weaknesses that we have identified. I appreciate that the minister addressed some of those today.

The issues include the definition of community justice, which is too narrow. As others have said, it should include prevention and early intervention. Leadership and accountability lines, and the interplay between national strategy and local provision, must be clarified.

The third sector’s role in the provision of community justice has been and remains crucial to success and it must be safeguarded in the bill. A duty must be placed on community planning partners to engage with the third sector at all points in the planning and delivery process.

Some concern remains about the setting up of community justice partnerships, as opposed to channelling the work directly through CPPs. The planning of community justice services should become a responsibility of CPPs. I hear the caveats that the minister issued about the difficulties of doing that but, if there was some way of identifying a way of placing that responsibility, that would help.

The national body’s powers to direct when local delivery is failing need to be articulated more clearly. Other significant policy changes that are being considered, such as the decisions on the women’s estate and the Government’s consultation on extending the presumption against short-term prison sentences, will increase reliance on community justice services and mean that the structures need to be absolutely right if we are to maximise the benefits that we want to deliver.

The role of housing in preventing reoffending is significant. Shelter Scotland is right to point to the need for us to specify the issues that the national strategy should cover.

As the committee report concludes, there is merit in the general approach, but much more needs to be done to strengthen strategic leadership and accountability. Although community justice authorities have faced criticism, I acknowledge the work of all those who have been involved in them, especially over the past few years as the organisations have matured. I am thinking in particular of the significant reduction in youth reoffending that has occurred on their watch. The knowledge and experience among officers and elected members must not be lost as we move forward.

Although the Scottish Liberal Democrats will support the bill’s general principles, we remain of the view that significant changes will need to be made at stage 2 if we are to support the bill’s further progress.