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Delivering Community Payback Orders (CPOs) and ensuring completion of these orders is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. National completion rates for Community Payback Orders (CPOs) are 70%, as reported in the Criminal Justice Social Work statistics for 2017-18.

The Scottish Government is working with national and local partners including Community Justice Scotland, Social Work Scotland, the Care Inspectorate, local authorities and third sector partners to help ensure orders are implemented as effectively as possible and improve completion rates where possible. The national Community Justice Leadership Group, which I co-chair with COSLA, will drive action to improve the delivery of community justice services across Scotland, with a focus on supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending whilst promoting public safety.

Updated CPO Practice guidance was published earlier this year which supports effective practice, and included a focus on breach and compliance, and reiterates the importance of successful completion.

We value the work of justice social workers and unpaid work managers in helping ensuring individuals successfully complete their orders. This is particularly the case when they are dealing with people who have chaotic lifestyles, which may include mental health issues and/or a history of drug or alcohol problems.

Outcomes are likely to be influenced by who gets the orders in the first place, the nature of the offending and their underlying needs. Some caution is therefore needed against seeing completion rates as the sole indicator of effectiveness. Short custodial sentences are not an effective alternative as 35% of those who receive short sentences are reconvicted and given further custodial sentences within a year.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Police Scotland’s revenue budget during this Parliament to deliver a £100 million boost by 2021. The Scottish Budget 2019-20 shows that the total Scottish Government funding for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in 2019-20 is increasing by £42.3 million, this includes continuing reform funding into 2019-20, meaning the annual policing budget is now over £1.2 billion.

In recognition of the range of challenges Police Scotland are currently facing, particularly in relation to a no-deal EU Exit, the Scottish Government has also assured the Scottish Police Authority that up to £17 million is available in 2019-20 to cover EU exit-related policing costs. In addition to this Police Scotland’s capital budget has been increased by £12 million – a 52% increase to support further improvements to ICT infrastructure which includes the introduction of improved mobile technology for officers which is currently rolling out across the country.

The Scottish Government also ensured that policing is benefitting from being able to reclaim VAT of around £25 million a year, money that was previously paid to the UK Government. The Scottish Government continues to press the UK Government for a refund of the £125 million paid by Police Scotland in VAT between 2013 and 2018.

The Scottish Government continues to engage closely with the SPA and Police Scotland to support them in keeping people safe.

Our Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, sets a desired outcome of having high quality restorative justice services delivered by trained facilitators.

The Plan also sets out a suite of actions to deliver this outcome, including commissioning a national training needs analysis by Spring 2020, which will identify the skills required and the scale of the requirement for training.

Temporary release is an important part of the rehabilitation process which helps the Parole Board assess whether someone is ready to be released back into the community. It is one of a number of considerations taken into account in assessing the person’s risk to the public. A rigorous risk assessment process is undertaken by the Scottish Prison Service before any offender is granted any form of unescorted leave. This involves psychological assessment, social work reports and reports on their time in prison. Home leave is an important part of the reintegration process and allows an individual to be tested on how they adapt to living in the community. Furthermore, individuals who have joined the Victim Notification Scheme, and have expressed a desire to make representations in relation to licence conditions under section 17 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.

Our vision, as set out in the Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, is to have restorative justice (RJ) available across Scotland to all those who wish to access it, and at a time that is appropriate to the people and cases involved.

The Plan also explains that RJ is offered as a further option in how justice can be experienced across the communities of Scotland.

In line with the Scottish Government Guidance for the Delivery of Restorative Justice https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-delivery-restorative-justice-scotland/ , risk assessments must be carried out throughout the RJ process and will take full cognisance of the role of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) as the independent public prosecution service for Scotland. In that respect, RJ will not impinge on any ongoing criminal proceedings. Decisions relating to the prosecution or diversion of a case from prosecution are matters solely for COPFS.

This information is not held centrally.

Police Officer Quarterly Strength Scotland (POQS) gives the total number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland. First published as Official Statistics in December 2008, POQS was designed to measure the implementation of the 2007 manifesto commitment to increase officer numbers by 1,000. As such, figures include all police officers appointed by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland and senior police officers appointed by the Scottish Police Authority, excluding those on career breaks.

The latest edition of POQS was published on 6 August 2019, and reports that there were 17,259 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 30 June 2019, up 87 police officers (+0.5%) in the last year, from 30 June 2018 and up 1,025 police officers (+6.3%) from the position at 31 March 2007.

Deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. Police Scotland publish sub-national police officer numbers on a quarterly basis in parallel with the Scottish Government’s Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics. A link to Police Scotland’s latest sub-national officer numbers publication, providing information on the number of police officers deployed nationally, regionally and within the 13 local policing divisions, is given below:

https://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/138327/212520/police-scotland-officer-numbers-quarter-1-30th-june2019?view=Standar .

Police Officer Quarterly Strength Scotland (POQS) gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland. Since the first edition of the quarterly series (Published December 2008), POQS has held the status of “Official Statistics”, emphasising that figures are:

• Produced independently by professional statisticians and published by a recognised producer of “Official Statistics” as set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
• Are prepared in compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and are subject to scrutiny by the UK Statistics Authority.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) determine what to prioritise for assessment within the context of their developing vision and mission. OSR consult the Chief Statistician on their Regulatory Work Programme, which is published online:

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/our-regulatory-work-programme

Currently this includes a programme of work seeking to improve the ‘Use of Policing Statistics in Public Discourse’;

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/use-of-policing-statistics-in-public-discourse/

The Chief Statistician considers the principles of the Code of Practice for Statistics in determining priorities and whether to formally request an assessment.

The statistics in the POQS release are based upon quarterly returns made by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government, and are a by-product of live administrative processes, generated directly from the HR systems. The published police officer figures are sourced from Police Scotland’s personnel records and as such the quality and reliability is good. Further information on POQS can be found in the Statistical Release Notes that accompany each publication. A link to the latest officer numbers publication is given below:

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PublicationPoliceStrength/POQS2019Q2

As detailed in the Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June 2019, we aim to have stakeholder groups in place by Autumn 2019. We are in the process of establishing these groups.

The independent jury research commissioned by the Scottish Government is due to be published on Wednesday 9 October 2019.

The Scottish Government is planning to host a launch event for the research on that day, with attendees invited from the legal profession, third sector, justice organisations, the Justice Committee, defence agents, and other key stakeholders.

After publication the Scottish Government will engage widely to seek views on the findings and any implications for future criminal justice reforms.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has regular discussions with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to discuss a range of prison policy and operational matters.