- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much it will allocate to (a) Fife and Forth Valley, (b) Glasgow, (c) Lanarkshire, (d) Lothian and Borders, (e) Northern, (f) North Strathclyde, (g) Tayside and (h) South West Scotland Community Justice Authority in 2015-16 to help fund women’s justice support services.
Answer
The Scottish Government has identified an overall community justice budget for 2015-16 of £113.2 million – which includes over £95 million allocated under Section 27 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to Community Justice Authorities (CJA) to deliver criminal justice social work services. I refer the member to the answer to her question S4W-24099 on 3 February 2014 which provides details of the allocation of funding to each CJA.
The allocation of funding each Community Justice Authority does not specify how much funding is to be allocated to support women offenders. Provision of funds to specific projects or areas of work is a matter for local community justice partners. Community Justice Authorities have the flexibility to allocate this funding as they see fit across their area, in accordance with their area action plans, and in the way they see as most appropriate to fulfil their statutory obligations and to reduce reoffending.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it allocated to each community justice authority for (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15, and how much it will allocate in 2015-16.
Answer
The allocation of funding to each community justice authority (CJA) area in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 is as follows:
| | Fife and Forth Valley | Glasgow | Lanarkshire | Lothian and Borders |
| 2013-14 | £12,562,852 | £18,183,684 | £11,668,036 | £14,544,205 |
| 2014-15 | £11,853,431 | £18,120,784 | £10,935,194 | £14,586,007 |
| 2015-16 | £12,166,592 | £17,948,674 | £10,926,872 | £14,708,692 |
| | Northern | North Strathclyde | South West Scotland | Tayside |
| 2013-14 | £12,247,626 | £10,233,282 | £9,516,975 | £7,828,587 |
| 2014-15 | £12,214,634 | £10,130,463 | £9,532,692 | £7,827,932 |
| 2015-16 | £12,023,075 | £10,000,494 | £9,657,964 | £7,765,060 |
| | Total |
| 2013-14 | £96,785,247 |
| 2014-15 | £95,201,137 |
| 2015-16 | £95,197,422 |
Any year-on-year changes are reflective of CJA-specific projects and pilots beginning or ending (with funding being changed as a result), as well as changes in criminal justice social work workload being reflected in the allocation to individual CJA areas.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to support for women offenders in the community in the 2015-16 budget.
Answer
The Scottish Government has identified an overall community justice budget for 2015-16 of £113.2 million – which includes over £95 million allocated under Section 27 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to Community Justice Authorities to deliver criminal justice social work services. This funding supports services for both men and women, throughout Scotland.
The budget allocation does not specify how much funding is to be allocated to support women offenders. Provision of funds to specific projects or areas of work is a matter for local community justice partners. Community Justice Authorities have the flexibility to allocate this funding as they see fit across their area, in accordance with their area action plans, and in the way they see as most appropriate to fulfil their statutory obligations and to reduce reoffending.
This budget includes the Scottish Government’s input to the Reducing Reoffending Change Fund, which has been renewed for 2015-17, to use up to £4 million annually to continue support for offender mentoring services for men and women.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided to community justice centres in (a) Edinburgh, (b) Glasgow, (c) Aberdeen and (d) Dundee in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.
Answer
The Scottish Government issued grant funding in 2013-15 to sixteen projects across Scotland, to support the development of community justice services for women. These grants were made in addition to the annual allocation of funding for community justice activity given to Community Justice Authorities.
The grant allocation to projects in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee was as follows:
| Location | Project | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| Edinburgh | Willow project | £305,184 | £298,835 |
| Glasgow | Tomorrow’s Women Glasgow | £274,556 | £388,078 |
| Aberdeen | Women offenders project | £54,954 | £194,778 |
The grant allocation to support women offender services in Dundee supported proposals made by Dundee criminal justice social work (CJSW) leadership, and was used to recruit additional staff into the Dundee City CJSW women offenders team, working from their existing premises.
| Location | Project | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| Dundee | CJSW women offenders team | £118,800 | £118,800 |
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided to projects supporting women offenders in the community, other than community justice centres, in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15, also broken down by project.
Answer
In 2013-14 and 2014-15 the Scottish Government allocated grant funding to support the development of projects providing community justice services for women, in line with the recommendations of the Commission on Women Offenders’ report. These grants were made in addition to the annual allocation of funding for community justice activity to Community Justice Authorities (CJA).
The allocations were made in response to proposals submitted by local community justice bodies, for the development of services which they considered would help meet the needs of the local population, and which could be sustained by local resources at the conclusion of the grant funding.
The answer to question S4W-24036 on 29 January 2015 set out the grant funding provided to community justice centre projects in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The remaining grants were as follows:
| Location | Project | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| Aberdeenshire | Women’s services development officer | - | £61,697 |
| Angus | Glen Isla outreach project | £71,581 | £137,162 |
| Ayrshire | Kilmarnock court support project | - | £45,500 |
| Dunbartonshire | Women offender groupwork project | - | £35,529 |
| Dundee | Criminal justice social work (CJSW) women offenders team | £118,000 | £118,000 |
| Inverclyde | Women’s services centre | - | £94,278 |
| Inverness | Groupwork/outdoor work project | - | £23,000 |
| Fife | Outreach project | £65,715 | £131,430 |
| Falkirk and Forth Valley | Women offender support network | £26,305 | £48,869 |
| North Lanarkshire | CJSW women offenders team | £90,000 | £180,000 |
| North Strathclyde | Renfrewshire CJSW womens’ service | £23,000 | £46,000 |
| South Lanarkshire | CJSW women offenders team | £59,000 | £118,000 |
| South West Scotland | Early and effective intervention project | £35,548 | £71,097 |
Additional projects:
| Location | Project | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| Northern CJA | Women offender services research | - | £50,000 |
| Glasgow | Enhanced diversion project | - | £60,400 |
| | National evaluation of
women offender projects | £118,100 |
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many police (a) officers and (b) staff undertake the role of firearms enquiry officer.
Answer
I understand that Police Scotland currently has some (a) 27 full time equivalent (FTE) police officers across Scotland and (b) 34 police staff (33 FTE) undertaking the role of Firearms Enquiry Officer. There are also 24 staff involved in administration duties.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many police staff posts will be lost as a consequence of proposed changes to the firearms licensing function arising from the national firearms licensing review.
Answer
Police Scotland is currently consulting staff and trade unions on proposals to change the way the firearms licensing function is managed and delivered. No decisions have been taken as yet on the way forward, but I understand that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the review.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not implemented the provisions of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, with regard to the release arrangements that apply to prison sentences.
Answer
In 2008, the independent Scotland’s Choice – report of the Scottish Prisons Commission recommended that implementation of the release arrangements contained in the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 should ‘‘…follow the implementation of this Commission's other recommendations and the achievement of reductions in the short sentence prison population.’’
The Scottish Government agreed and continues to agree with the view of the McLeish Commission in relation to fundamental reform of the system of early release only being able to follow a sustained reduction in the prison population.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how it will support town centre regeneration in Dumfriesshire in 2015-16.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2015
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether secondary legislation is required to enable the establishment of the Scottish sentencing council and, if so, how long it will take to introduce it.
Answer
There are provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 which will require to be commenced to establish the sentencing council. These are sections 1 to 13 and schedule 1 of the 2010 Act. In addition there is a requirement to bring forward secondary legislation relating to the appointment process of members.
