Community Justice Bill goes out to views at stage 1

A call for written evidence on the Scottish Government's Community Justice (Scotland) Bill has been issued by Hoiyrood's Justice Committee.

The bill aims to create a stronger community justice system based on local collaborative strategic planning and delivery, with a new national body providing strategic leadership, support and oversight of service.

It would abolish the eight existing community justice authorities and give local community justice partners responsibility for local planning and monitoring of community justice services. The proposals follow reports published in 2012 by the Commission on Women Offenders and by Audit Scotland, which highlighted concerns about the current model.

The MSPs are particularly seeking views on whether the bill will achieve the improvements sought by the 2012 commission; the role of the new national body; whether local partnerships will have the necessary powers, duties and structures to perform their proposed role effectively; whether the promised resources will be sufficient; and whether the proposed commencement of 1 April 2017 is achievable.

Committee convener Christine Grahame MSP said: “It is essential that this bill encourages and supports the wide range of service providers to work together to achieve the best outcomes for offenders and the wider community.

“The committee is keen to hear from the service providers and others with an interest in this area whether they think the new model proposed for community justice services would address the weaknesses in existing arrangements identified by the Commission on Women Offenders and Audit Scotland in their 2012 reports.

“We also want to know if the bill achieves the right balance between national and local responsibility.”

Click here to view the call for evidence. The deadline for responses is 12 August 2015 and the committee is due to hear oral evidence on the bill in September.