Community Payback Orders (Completion Rate)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 1 March 2017.

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Photo of Peter Chapman Peter Chapman Conservative

2. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the completion rate of community payback orders. (S5O-00711)

Photo of Michael Matheson Michael Matheson Scottish National Party

Delivering community payback orders and ensuring their completion is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. The “National Outcomes and Standards for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System” contain guidance on the procedures involved, and the action that social work case managers can take, in cases where the individual is failing to complete their order. Those actions can include returning the case to court.

The Government is committed to supporting local authorities in delivering robust community sentences. Funding for criminal justice social work remains at record levels. We also invested an additional £4 million in community services in 2016-17, and that additional funding continues in the Scottish budget for the coming year.

From 1 April, our new model for community justice will come into effect. Statutory community justice partners will jointly plan and deliver services to prevent further offending and support people who have offended to reintegrate into communities. A new public body, community justice Scotland, will provide national leadership on that and report to ministers on performance across Scotland. It will promote improvement in the delivery, and impact of, community justice services, including prevention, early intervention and community sentences.

Photo of Peter Chapman Peter Chapman Conservative

The fact is that nearly a third of orders were not completed in 2015-16 and completion rates have fallen for two years in a row. More needs to be done to reverse that worrying trend, especially as it has emerged that CPOs are being handed out for serious sex offences. Will the Government commit to an urgent review of the system of community payback orders to ensure that criminals do not start treating them with contempt?

Photo of Michael Matheson Michael Matheson Scottish National Party

Peter Chapman is clearly not aware that, in 2015, there was a full review of the way in which community payback orders were operating. That review, which was published, identified a broad degree of confidence about how community payback orders were being implemented. I will quote from it:

“Sheriffs appear to have broad confidence in CPOs in terms of monitoring of progress and appropriate use of breach.”

Therefore, there has already been a review of community payback orders.

Peter Chapman is obviously not aware that completion rates for community sentences have increased over recent years from around 62 per cent in 2006-07 to just over 68 per cent in the past year or so. We continue to consider what further measures can be taken to ensure that the benefits of CPOs are realised and we will always consider other measures that add value to them, including ensuring higher completion rates.

Photo of Liam McArthur Liam McArthur Liberal Democrat

I welcome much of what the cabinet secretary said. As he will be aware, the latest statistics show that offenders on community payback orders have the lowest levels of reoffending. By contrast, offenders who are serving sentences of less than three months have the highest rates of reoffending. On that basis, will he update the Parliament on when we will move to raise the minimum sentence to 12 months to reduce the levels of reoffending?

Photo of Michael Matheson Michael Matheson Scottish National Party

Liam McArthur makes an important point. The evidence demonstrates that community payback orders and community sentencing are much more effective than short-term prison sentences. It shows that someone who receives a community disposal is much less likely to reoffend than someone who receives a short-term sentence of six months or less. Actually, someone who receives a sentence of six months or less is almost twice as likely to reoffend as someone who completes a CPO.

As Liam McArthur will be aware, I am clear that we need to use the evidence, which demonstrates not only the benefits of CPOs in relation to reducing reoffending but the benefits that they provide to local communities. The most recent annual report on CPO provision indicated that some 1.8 million hours of unpaid work were provided in local communities throughout Scotland through the scheme.

I know that Liam McArthur has considerable interest in the presumption against short sentences, as I have. I intend to update Parliament on the matter in due course following some further work that is being carried out.