The Scottish Government is committed to a safer and stronger Scotland, removing inequality and injustice across all communities. We want everyone, whether living in urban or rural areas, to feel safer in their communities. Feeling safe is a basic human right and we need to ensure that we create a feeling of safety by tackling both crime and the fear of crime in our communities.
On a practical level police funding has increased and a new community safety partnership award programme was implemented which gave all Council led Community Safety Partnerships a share of £4 million per annum for local community safety initiatives. The Programme allowed Community Safety Partnerships to secure sustained mainstream funding which was used solely for the purposes of taking forward the community safety agenda.
Community Safety Partnerships
Under the framework of community planning, community safety is the strategic priority for a range of key players (including the local authority, police, fire and health authority) who collectively can build safer, more inclusive, healthier and more vibrant, economically attractive communities. There is a Community Safety Partnership for each local authority area. For information on the partnership in your area please view the dedicated Safer Scotland Website
Guidance for Community Safety Partnerships
A range of guidance is available -
Safer Communities in Scotland (Scottish Executive, July 1999) - comprehensive guidance to assist Community Safety Partnerships.
On behalf of the Accounts Commission, Audit Scotland have published 3 documents:-
"Safe and Sound" (Audit Scotland, May 2000 www.audit-scotland.gov.uk )
"Safe and Sound Self-assessment good practice guide for community safety partnerships" (Audit Scotland, Sept 2000 www.audit-scotland.gov.uk ).
"How are we doing? Measuring the performance of community safety partnerships"'(Audit Scotland, Nov 2000 www.audit-scotland.gov.uk )
In addition, the Scottish Executive published ' Threads of Success' an insight into the emerging shape of the community safety partnerships across Scotland .