The Scottish Government

Collection and enforcement of fines and financial penalties in the Scottish Court ServiceProject Name:

Current Stage

SRO: Eric McQueen

Vision

PM: Cliff Binning

Project Commissioning

Project Initiation

DA Lead: Scottish Court Service

Assets

Design

KM Lead:

Construct

Implement

SE lead officer:

Estimated Project Cost: £2.463m over the first 3 years

Operate

Estimated Start / End: 2006/07 to 2008/09

Background and context: What is the background to the project and the context in which it was established, what were the issues/drivers/opportunities which led to its inception- why?

The key deliverable of the proposed Fines Project is "efficiency improvement" by allowing fines to be enforced administratively rather than through time-consuming court procedures. The Efficient Government initiative has set specific targets for this source of efficiency saving. The Fines Project will make a significant contribution to making government in Scotland more efficient through net time releasing savings of £5.734m by 31 ^st March 2011. It is recognised that there is a dependency on the approval of EG funding to achieve these savings.

As a direct result of implementing these changes the project will deliver:

Net annual recurring productive time releasing savings of £3,225K by 2010-11.

Increased confidence in the system and in the use of the fine and alternatives to prosecution. The latter will result in fewer cases being processed through the court system.

Objectives & Benefits -What are the aims/objectives/benefits & deliverables that the project is seeking to achieve, what improvements will there be as a result of this project - what?

It has been identified that there is a need to restore confidence in the fine and financial penalties as sentences of the court. In addition to this, a further requirement is that more effective systems are in place for collection and enforcement of these penalties, thus complementing the Summary Justice Reform proposals.

To achieve these outcomes the following key milestones have been set for the Fines Redesign Team:

·To have designed and put in place an effective, fit for purpose Scotland wide collection and enforcement system and processes for recovery of fines and financial penalties from March 2008.

·To implement an enhanced IT system (COP 2.5) to provide sentencers with improved information about an offenders previous fines and record of payment, extend payment options to make it easier for offenders to pay their fines, and to support new enforcement activity by March 2008.

·To recruit and train 30 FEOs in readiness to introduce the new enforcement measures by December 2007.

The project will be judged a success if specific measurable criteria are achieved. These criteria are based on achieving certain outcomes over a period of time which inlcude the following:

·SCS and District Courts: Reduction in the number of means enquiry courts by 60%

· Police: Reduction in the number of means enquiry warrants by 60%

· SPS: Reduction in the number of fines defaulters being imprisoned by 60%

· SLAB: Reduction in the number of fines defaulters receiving legal advice and assistance by 60%

The project is seeking to achieve the following savings

The net saving of the project is £5.734m with a Net Present Value of £4.8m¹over the five year period ending 31 ^st March 2011. Net annual recurring productive time releasing savings of £3.225m by 2010-11 through improvements to transactional processes. This will speed up the summary justice process as a whole by allowing other cases to be processed and heard more quickly.

Improvements / Benefits as a result of this project will be:

There are a number different stages and processes involved in the collection and enforcement of sheriff court fines and compensation orders. The redesigned collection and enforcement system will strip out the number of process steps and also reduce a number of routine and repeat enforcement processes. This will result in time releasing savings. In addition to the time savings across the sheriff courts, judicial time savings will be made which will allow SCS greater flexibility to effectively manage court programming and allocate the time savings to higher priority court business. Increased confidence in the Criminal Justice System and in the use of the fine and alternatives to prosecution. The latter will result in fewer cases being processed through the court system.

Stakeholders and governance-Which organisations are involved in delivering the project, what are their roles and responsibilities, who is accountable? Who are the key stakeholders to whom the project is relevant?- who?

ACPOS

ACPOS acknowledged the benefit which the police service should derive from the work of FEOs. Whilst it was appreciated that there would still be a need to execute means enquiry warrants, the fact that a range of other options would be at the disposal of FEOs would mean that the police would receive these warrants only as a last resort, once these options had been exhausted. Consequently the numbers of such warrants requiring police involvement should diminish considerably. The emergent benefit will be in the form of time releasing savings. The sheer volume of different types of warrants means that police very often do not currently execute means warrants when they are also faced with a demand to execute pre-conviction, apprehension warrants. There is no likelihood, therefore, that staffing costs to Forces will be reduced as a result of a reduction in means enquiry warrants.

SPS

As a result of the Fines Project, a reduction in fines defaulters going to prison of 60% is forecast. It is estimated that 3,658 fewer fines defaulters will enter the prison system which equates to approximately 36 prisoner places. This would allow SPS staff more time to concentrate on rehabilitation activities where these are most required, and will have a small but positive impact on levels of overcrowding.

SLAB

The Fines Project will result in the reduction of court appearances and as the majority of Advice and Assistance applications are for means enquiry matters, there is therefore scope for a reduction in applications and payments made. It is difficult to quantify these reductions, and there is also the possibility that the new procedures may also lead to more clients seeking advice from solicitors on these matters.

CJSW

The introduction of dedicated FEOs will provide the support to appropriate fines defaulters and will also contribute to a reduction in the number of reports required from the Social Work departments for means enquiry courts (estimated at 60% in line with the estimated reduction in means enquiry courts). We have however been unable to produce accurate information on costs due to the limited availability of information. A reduction in fines related social work support will allow social work resources to concentrate on higher risk offenders and on reducing re-offending .

COPFS

Prosecutors will have detailed guidelines about the use of alternatives to prosecution and their use will be closely monitored. The use of alternatives and the number of fiscal fines and compensation orders offered is expected to increase over time as prosecutors become more familiar with the changes through the provision by COPFS of guidance and training. However having an effective enforcement regime in place for the collection of outstanding sums due in relation to accepted offers of alternatives is viewed by COPFS as an essential ingredient in securing the confidence of prosecutors in their increased use of the full range of alternatives. This has implications for the anticipated reduction in the number of cases being prosecuted in the courts.

Work plan-What are the timeframes, milestones and deadlines for these activities to be undertaken and how much progress has been made with these activities to date- when?

Fines Enforcement Officers have been recruited and trained in all 6 Sheriffdoms.

The project was successfully implemented on 10 ^th March 2008

30 FEOs are in place and provide national coverage in securing swift payment of fines and financial penalties and the application of sanctions where appropriate. This work is already generating significant benefits by removing involvement from Justiciary in the form of adjudicating at means enquiry courts, Police in the form of reduced warrant activity in relation to non attendance at means enquiry court and SCS in the preparation and Court slots allocated for means enquiry courts.

The enhanced nationwide IT system to provide improved information about an offender's previous fines and payment history is in place and supports FEOs in the application of the new enforcement activities.

Budget-What is the overall budget for the project and how is this to be released? What is the spend to date, is this as forecast?- how much?

It was agreed that year 1 would be deferred and would be claimed along with 07/08.

SCS are currently on target to spend the full budget by the end of this financial year.

Risks-What are the main risks in terms of project management, stakeholder engagement and communications, delivery approach and benefits realisation? What can be done to mitigate against these risks?- what if?

Risks

Impact/Probability

Actions

The project risks are managed by the court unification project board and are monitored and reported on monthly.