Chamber and committees

The number of incidents that have been reported to each police force in Scotland is contained in the Scottish Policing Performance Framework (SPPF) Annual Report 2010-11.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PoliceSPPF.

Table 5.1.4 of the SPPF Annual Report 2010-11 gives the number of incidents reported to the police in Scotland, from 2007-08 to 2010-11.

The Scottish Policing Performance Framework Annual Report does not contain information on which incidents have been classified as a crime or an offence, or whether an incident was recorded but not classified as a crime or an offence.

The number of crimes and offences that have been recorded by each police force in Scotland are contained within the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRecordedCrime.

Tables 1 and 2 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin give the number of crimes and, the number of offences, recorded by the police in Scotland, from 2001-02 to 2010-11.

The recorded crime data collected centrally contains information on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland. It does not contain information on the number of incidents reported to the police.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) issues general guidance to police forces on the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS). The SCRS is the method by which police officers and staff record all thefts, including mobile phones. Additionally, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) issues guidance to forces on complying with the requirements of the National Mobile Phone Register (NMPR) when recording the theft of mobile phones.

Chief constables are responsible for issuing specific guidelines to their officers and staff and ensuring that these are applied.

The Scottish Government has discharged this recommendation and initially hosted a meeting in May 2008 with all Force Crime Registrars when it was agreed that a new Counting Rules Sub Group be formed. This forum is chaired by a Crime Registrar with the attendance of Scottish Government and invited representatives from relevant areas of crime i.e. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), and Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) Working Groups etc. These meetings are held quarterly unless otherwise requested and prior to the Scottish Crime Recording Group meeting chaired by the ACPOS lead for the Scottish Crime Recording Standard.

As a result of this review, an 800 page Scottish Crime Recording Standard Manual was developed in consultation with the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Division and introduced in 2008, detailing agreed national counting rules and conventions. This manual is now reviewed by the above sub group on a yearly basis.

Annual force audits continue to be carried out in each force with the introduction in 2011 of cross scrutiny force audits. In essence, this means that each force is audited annually by another and vice versa.

In addition, HMICS has conducted follow-up audit activity in 2010 and 2011 (to be published shortly) giving a high degree of confidence that the original recommendation has been discharged.

There were five recommendations made in the 2008 report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland and it is satisfied through follow-up audits in 2010 and 2012 that these have largely been discharged.

As a result of the 2008 review, an 800 page Scottish Crime Recording Standard Manual was developed and introduced in 2008, detailing agreed national counting rules and conventions. In addition, a training DVD was produced by Lothian and Borders Police with the assistance of all Force Crime Registrars and is now part of the training within Forces and the Scottish Police College, where it is recognised as part of the probationer crime training.

A Crime Recording Standard Training Sub Group was also introduced to ensure that guidance documents remain current and this group is now looking towards the development a national training programme for the single Scottish police service.

This recommendation is not about the recording of crime per se, or a debate about crime types, but rather about the proportionality of further investigation in circumstances where there are few or no realistic investigative options. In that regard, a national Crime Resolution Policy was produced in Sept 2008 by Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland Crime Business Area and circulated to all forces.

Over the past few years, a number of forces have been working towards “responding to demand” and No Further Enquiry/Crime Screening Policies have been introduced which relate to minor crimes with no aggravating factors. In short, there is a single national policy and, whilst some variations in approach are still encountered, work is still ongoing to achieve full standardisation in the move towards a single police service.

Since the inception of Cashback for Communities in 2007, over £45 million recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has been invested or fully committed to a wide range of community projects and facilities throughout Scotland, directly benefitting over 600,000 young people.

CashBack funding is not allocated on a geographical basis. Rather, the Scottish Government allocates available funds to partner organisations, who are responsible for running projects across Scotland; delivering outcomes to give our young people positive, purposeful and constructive opportunities to contribute to Scottish society.

The following table shows the amount of investment spent or committed to our national partner organisations since Cashback began in 2007, through to March 2014.

The Proceeds of Crime Act allows the Scottish Government to seize illegal gains from organised crime and uniquely, through the highly successful CashBack for Communities initiative, invest the ill-gotten gains of crime into community programmes, facilities and activities largely for young people to the ultimate benefit of Scottish communities including those affected by crime and anti-social behaviour.

The key factors that we take into account are that projects must deliver outcomes that build better, safer, healthier communities, improve facilities and run projects that simply would not have existed otherwise. That gives our young people positive, purposeful and constructive opportunities to contribute to Scottish society.

I am rightly proud to be able to say that through CashBack, we have invested over £45 million to benefit over 600,000 young people and the communities they live in.

The Scottish Government recently announced that it will contribute £2 million over the next three years through to 2014, to support the Scottish Open Golf Championship. This includes a contribution of £125,000 a year over the three years from the CashBack for Communities Programme to provide children with opportunities to experience and receive golf coaching through the ClubGolf scheme. ClubGolf is Scotland’s junior golf programme which is delivering its Ryder Cup pledge by introducing children to golf and supporting the early development of young golfers through structured coaching.

The total amount of money secured by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (including both the Serious and Organised Crime Division and Civil Recovery Unit) through the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, broken down per year is as follows:

Note: These figures include confiscation orders made by criminal courts (as sought by Serious and Organised Crime Division), civil orders of court (following application on behalf of the Scottish Ministers by Civil Recovery Unit to recover assets unlawfully obtained) and cash seizures supervised by the Civil Recovery Unit.