Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill
Apex Lecture
Signet Library, Parliament House, Edinburgh
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It is a genuine pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you in such a prestigious setting on a topic which is currently attracting much attention not only from those directly involved with the justice system but also wider commentators.
I am grateful to Pat McMullan for his kind words of introduction on behalf of Apex Scotland. I was very happy to accept Apex's invitation to speak at tonight's event as I have long had very high regard for the work carried out by the organisation, and the contribution it makes to the aspirations of this government in achieving sustainable economic growth.
The personal challenge I face this evening will be to avoid repeating myself particularly for any of you who were at yesterday's Holyrood conference at Dynamic Earth and those of you who might be tempted to attend the Parliamentary debate this coming Thursday on the Commission's report. Plus, I also have to be careful not to pre-empt anything Richard Jeffrey might say following my own address. For this reason I will attempt to be relatively brief in my remarks which for those of you who know will realise that this will be a major personal challenge in itself.
However, if achieved, it will, of course, allow opportunity for a fuller question and answer session after the formal speeches.
Tonight's event is taking place at a very important stage of developing a modern coherent penal policy with the benefit of the work carried out by the Commission and when once again the numbers of people in our prisons has once again hit all time highs. The ever increasing prisoner population is far from unique to Scotland but in Scotland, we imprison more people, more often and for longer periods than most other European countries. As we have been reminded by the Commission in its report we have a rate of imprisonment nearly twice as high as some of our immediate neighbours in Ireland and Scandinavia.
I do not believe that there is something about the Scottish psyche which intrinsically means that Scots are more liable to commit crime. The conclusion must be that it is something to do with prevailing attitudes and the operation of the justice system. And let us remember that the continuing increase in the Scottish prisoner population is taking place when recorded crime is falling.
We inherited an unfit prison estate with record numbers of prisoners. And numbers continue to rise by the day. The Scottish Government have set to with a will to modernise the prison estate but we can't build our way out of this problem. We will shortly have a new prison at Addiewell but on current trends that will simply alleviate the problem, not end it.
How can it be good public policy to take taxpayers money at a very tough time and spend even more on prisoners when we ought to be spending on education and industry that will transform the economy and bring real benefits to the people of Scotland.
Those who carp from the sidelines but never offer any alternative solutions jeopardise the safety of our brave prison officers and the security of the estate. They have bequeathed us an intolerable situation but will not work with us to address the challenges.
For I am in no doubt that we face huge challenges. I am also acutely aware that these reforms cannot be delivered by criminal justice interests alone. We need all who are involved in improving Scotland's social fabric to play their part.
The status quo of ever escalating prisoner numbers and associated levels of re-offending is neither sustainable nor what the Scottish Government wants for the people of Scotland. The Commission's report provides a catalyst for the Government and its partners to tackle this unacceptable situation and move towards an outcome that sees prisons used for serious and dangerous offenders with a strong and imaginative framework of community penalties for low tariff, repeat offenders that offers payback to our communities. It would be unrealistic however to expect the world to change overnight.
We face the prospect of some difficult choices not only as to how we develop the justice system but also across the range of government policies and responsibilities. It is important to remember that the justice system deals with people only after things have gone wrong. It is worth reminding ourselves that a third of those entering prison in Scotland are assessed as having an alcohol problem, over half are assessed as having a drugs problem and 70% are assessed as having some form of mental health problem. In addition over half come from 15 per cent of our most deprived communities. It is not within the gift of the justice system alone to remedy such deep seated problems which is why this administration is committed to taking action on early interventions across a range of policy portfolios.
For example, the Skills Strategy published last autumn specifically identified offenders as having needs, which are not currently being met. As is generally recognised improving the employment rates of offenders can have a direct effect on re-offending and if we are able bring about a positive impact on current levels of offender learning skills this in turn increases the prospect of obtaining a job.
For some offenders access to employment cannot be achieved effectively because of health or addiction problems. We are committed to removing some of the existing inequalities which can act as barriers to those wishing to address their offending.
The recent report of the Health Inequalities Task Force 'Equally Well' identified the need for cross cutting action by agencies to achieve change to the health of the country across a number of areas; including the need for offenders and ex offenders to have the same access to health and other public services and benefit from the same quality of service as the rest of the population. By doing so we can ensure that offenders are given the best possible chance of a new start.
All of this means that development of a coherent penal policy has to be viewed in a wider policy context. We need to consider carefully who we are sending to prison and the reasons why. This leads to the question of whether prison is really the most effective option in dealing with minor offenders or should the use of short prison sentences be curtailed. How do we improve the effectiveness of community penalties and how do we improve support for those leaving prison and resettling in the community?
These and other issues the Commission was asked to address as part of its work. I am grateful to Henry McLeish and the Commission members for their sterling work in coming up with an insightful and comprehensive report within a very tight timescale. It is therefore important that we give proper consideration to the Commission's recommendations and we are committed to providing a detailed response before the end of the year.
As you will be aware, the report sets out proposals around the key themes of payback, reparation, and more effective management of offenders in custody. Recognising that tonight's event is sponsored by Apex, the majority of whose work takes place within the community setting it seems only appropriate that I should focus on the themes of payback and reparation within the context of the community penalties agenda.
Last November I launched the report of the review of community penalties. I indicated then that the report was not intended to lead to a consultation exercise around its recommendations but instead it set out a statement of intent. Community penalties force those who have offended to face up to what they have done and give something back to their local communities. This is not a soft or easy option but rather a smarter way. What they give back should be something of benefit to the community - in many cases through real, tangible improvements to their local environment. But it should be something that benefits the offender too - much more than a short stretch in jail.
Community penalties offer the prospect of payback to our communities. 75 per cent of those sent to prison for under 6 months are reconvicted within 2 years compared with only 39 per cent for those given community service which is a direct alternative to custody. The difference between these figures is stark but we need to ensure that the punishments handed down by our courts make Scotland a safer place for its citizens. I don't want to focus on whether something is 'tough' or 'soft'. I want to focus on 'what works'.
At the heart of our strategy is to build on the progress made in recent years. Not only has the use of community penalties such as community service and probation been increasing steadily over the past 10 years but as recognised by the Commission there are examples of excellent local practice such as the Falkirk community service scheme. And it is not only the Commission that has found this. The Scotsman and Herald reported very positively on Community Service schemes in the Tayside CJA area and even the Sun, which is not always the greatest fan of offenders undertaking community sentences, was able to make a positive write-up of the experience of one of its journalists of community service in Glasgow.
However notwithstanding this positive coverage I believe much more can be done to let communities know of the work that has been undertaken on their behalf. We need to be more imaginative in our approach and ensure that current best practice where it occurs is shared across authorities.
With this in mind three of the Community Justice Authorities have recently been awarded a modest amount of challenge funding to set up demonstration models for raising the profile and credibility of Community Service within their areas and to encourage community involvement across the CJA area. If we can start to change existing levels of public awareness of and attitude to community penalties it is possible that our courts may be more willing to make increased use of such disposals.
On the subject of communities, it is important we recognise the wider partnership interests which exist. The recent signing of the Concordat with COSLA and the introduction of Single Outcome Agreements has revitalised the relationship between local and central government, although the relationships and responsibilities established through the Management of Offenders Act continue to apply. The challenge now is for the CJAs and their partners to identify and develop opportunities for linking to local service planning and monitoring arrangements under Community Planning Partnerships.
Those Partnerships are the key vehicle for the local achievement of the government's strategic objectives. None of us can operate in a vacuum and, for that reason, it is essential that we establish strong and effective working links with the communities that we claim to represent.On the issues of immediacy and speed, considerable work has been taking place over recent months in conjunction with ADSW and other partners in addressing how improvements to current practices might be achieved. Before the end of the year we should be in a position to issue guidance which will lead to no offender leaving court without being issued with a copy of his order and reporting instructions. The overall aim is that the work placement should commence within seven days of the order being made by the court. Whilst this will inevitably take time to bed in it should lead to vast improvements over current performance.
And with regard to speed of completion of orders we are looking to this being achieved within six months rather than the 12 month provided for in the existing legislation. Again this will present certain logistical challenges particularly in respect of the increasing numbers of offenders in employment and faced with a longer order. However I make no apologies for raising the bar as this is what the Scottish public will rightly be looking for if we are to overcome the current perception of community penalties.
I believe that the operational improvements currently in train are very much in keeping with the general direction and thrust of the Commission's findings. It is not always resolution of the big strategic issues that leads to the biggest impacts but often the willingness and ability to overcome traditional approaches can be of equal importance.
This is reflected in the current overhaul of the National Standards which currently set out the framework for delivery by local authorities of community penalties. These have stood the test of time remarkably well but we have now reached the stage of ensuring that the focus of attention is on achieving positive outcomes rather than the existing process driven approach.
I do not underestimate the challenges ahead but I hope you will appreciate during the course of this short address the strength of this Government's commitment to the suggested direction of travel set out in the Commission's report.
To be successful it will require all of us to pull in a similar direction if we are to achieve that common vision of a safe and crime free society.