MSPs call for changes to community justice proposals
Holyood's Justice Committee has called for improvements to the Scottish Government's proposed commmunity justice reforms, while supporting the general principles of the bill designed the system of non-custodial disposals.
Speaking on publication of the committee's stage 1 report on the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill, convener Christine Grahame commented that the evidence received "did not show any great enthusiasm for the exact model in the bill", though there was a general acceptance that it would be difficult to achieve a model that all bodies involved in community justice would be wholly satisfied with.
The bill would abolish the eight existing community justice authorities and give local community justice partners responsibility for local planning and monitoring of community justice services. A new national body would also be created to provide strategic leadership and oversight of the services.
The committee makes a number of recommendations aimed, in particular, at strengthening strategic leadership and simplifying the community justice landscape. Both issues were identified as particular weaknesses of the current community justice arrangements by Dame Elish Angiolini’s Commission on Women Offenders, and by Audit Scotland, in their 2012 reports.
There was little evidence, the MSPs state, supporting the retention of the current community justice authority-based model, and they accept that it should be replaced with new arrangements. They see merit in the general approach taken in the bill in balancing national and local priorities, but have concerns that the detailed proposals may not achieve the correct balance, and therefore recommend that the oversight functions of the national body are strengthened to provide the robust strategic leadership and accountability found to be lacking in the existing model.
They also doubt whether the measures proposed in the bill would simplify the institutional landscape. "We consider that more clarity on the duties of the national and local bodies and the balance of responsibilities between the two, and on how the model is expected to work in practice, could help clear up ambiguity over the new arrangements", the report continues. "We also urge the Scottish Government to monitor closely the operation of the bill, if passed, to ensure that any unnecessary complexity within the system does not persist."
Ms Grahame added: “Throughout the committee’s evidence taking at stage 1, we were keen to establish whether legislative reform was needed, given the current arrangements have only been in operation since 2007, and whether the proposals would make the change envisaged by the Commission on Women Offenders and Audit Scotland in their 2012 reports.
“We had particular concerns that the detailed proposals in the bill may not achieve the correct balance between strong national leadership, improvements in performance, and local flexibility in relation to the delivery of services."