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No.

We are aiming for April next year.

My officials can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that it is the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 that sets out the procedures for financial penalties and the level of payment. The maximum level for a restitution order is £10,000, as is the maximum level for a fine. That is an established procedure for the courts.

It is also my understanding that the courts have the option of imposing a fine, a restitution order or another penalty and, if they wish, they can use a combination of penalties. I do not have the figures in front of me, but courts sometimes impose fines plus compensation orders. I do not know how common that is, but it is my understanding that the courts can use a combination of disposals.

The restitution order gives courts an additional option. They are under an obligation to consider the impact on the offender and their ability to pay. We are not changing how any of that operates, and such orders already exist. Where the court imposes a combination of compensation orders, fines and restitution orders, a hierarchy of payments is applied. When offenders do not have the means to pay the total amount, priority is given to payment of compensation orders and, thereafter, restitution orders. I hope that that helps.

I have nothing further to add, convener.

Motion moved,

That the Criminal Justice Committee recommends that the Restitution Fund (Scotland) Order 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Angela Constance]

Motion agreed to.

To be honest, I think that we will be in a stronger position to encourage the use of restitution orders once the fund is up and running and there are people in place to administer it. I am keen to understand the data further, and I will certainly ask my officials in justice analytical services to liaise with the Crown Office, for example, on further data.

As I said earlier, I am keen for my officials to engage appropriately with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to raise awareness of restitution orders and remind people of their existence. Such orders have been around for some time, and they have been used. I want to encourage their continued and expanded use, given the benefits.

Until now, funds recouped through restitution orders have not been administered to any charities for the benefit of victims of assault. That has not happened. The purpose of the instrument that we are considering today is to get that fund established, get the guidance in place and get the fund operational by next year.

Good morning, colleagues. The order revokes and replaces the original Restitution Fund (Scotland) Order 2021. Its purpose is to remove the Scottish Police Benevolent Fund as the operator of the restitution fund and to make provision for Scottish ministers to operate the fund.

The order maintains provision for the administration of the fund, including making payments from the fund. The fund will be used to support services for police officers and police staff—or any person assisting them in the course of their duties—who have been victims of assault.

Restitution orders are imposed by the courts in a similar way to fines. The money that is received from the restitution orders is paid into the restitution fund, which is ring fenced for the purposes that are set out in the legislation. Police officers and police staff who are the victims of assault can currently access support services through police treatment centres or Police Scotland’s workplace provision of occupational health and employee assistance, for example, but the restitution fund makes available additional funds for valuable support services and it is also available to any person assisting the police in support of their duties who is the victim of assault. We anticipate that the most likely victims of assault—under section 90(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012—will be police officers and custody officers.

Support services can be any type of service or treatment that is intended to benefit the physical and mental health or wellbeing of the victim. There is no limit to the type of treatment or support that will be considered, and it could extend to the purchase of, for example, specialist equipment, to the funding of adjustments, where appropriate, or to the provision of support services in a different location or setting.

The main limitation of the fund is that it cannot be used to provide a direct payment to victims.

Having ministers operate the fund does not introduce any barriers to the way in which the restitution fund will be operated, and the revised equality impact assessment concludes that the provision of the order does not discriminate in any significant way and that access to support from the fund will not be impacted by any protected characteristic.

No one should face abuse or violence while at work, and the restitution order sends a clear message that, if you assault our police officers or police staff, you will pay for your actions.

Thank you, convener. I am happy to take any questions.

Convener, you are quite correct to say that there is a history to that. You correctly referred to the fact that my predecessor, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, wrote to the committee in August 2021 to confirm that the Scottish Police Benevolent Fund had withdrawn and no longer wanted to operate the fund. Thereafter, there were extensive discussions with the Scottish Police Federation, and they looked positive until about the start of last year.

I wanted to see the fund in operation, so I made the decision last year that, in the absence of either the Scottish Police Benevolent Fund or the Scottish Police Federation being prepared to operate the restitution fund, it should fall to Scottish ministers.

Restitution orders are currently available to the courts, but it is fair to say that, when the fund is operational, it will give us additional opportunities not only to appropriately raise awareness of the contribution that restitution orders can make to vital support, but to support their use by our independent courts.

The funds still rest in a ring-fenced account. There is data available: the courts have imposed 103 restitution orders. I will be frank, convener, and say that, although that is a matter for the independent courts, I have asked my officials to engage appropriately with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service after the successful—I hope—passing of this statutory instrument. We will proceed with the establishment of the guidance and the application process and get the fund up and running for applications by April next year.

I am keen to make people aware of the benefits of restitution orders and to support their use in a way that is appropriate to my role and does not stretch into interfering with the independence of the courts in any way. However, I want to boost the funds that can go into the restitution fund so that they can be used appropriately.

For the purposes of today, I have not looked in close detail at how compensation orders currently work. I know that, because fines are financial penalties, the income from those does not go to victims.