Scots spending to stop reoffending ‘ineffective’, say auditors

7 Nov 12
The Scottish Government has today been urged to review its reoffending prevention services after auditors found the funding could be used more effectively.
By Richard Johnstone | 7 November 2012
 

The Scottish Government has today been urged to review its reoffending prevention services after auditors found the funding could be used more effectively.

Audit Scotland’s Reducing reoffending report said repeat offenders were ‘a continuing problem’ in Scotland, with reconviction rates relatively static over the past decade. Almost a third (30%) of the 47,336 adults convicted in Scotland’s courts in 2010/11 had been in prison the previous year. In the same period, 20% of those convicted had at least ten previous convictions.

Services intended to cut the reoffending rate are provided by a range of bodies, including the Scottish Prison Service, Community Justice Authorities and the Scottish Government. They cost a total of £128m in 2010/11, but the funds were not always spent on what is known to work, the report added.

Scottish auditor general Caroline Gardner said more must be done to ensure the money was spent effectively.

Access to offender management services varied across the country, she said, and there was a ‘mismatch between what is delivered and what is known to work to reduce reoffending’.

Gardner called on the government to examine how offenders are helped after conviction, to ensure that the most effective techniques are used. For example, few offenders were offered support on money and debt management, or on families and relationships, although these were critical to a ‘holistic approach’.

‘The Scottish Government needs to review how offenders are managed in the community,’ Gardner said. ‘The government, the Scottish Prison Service, Community Justice Authorities and councils need to improve how they plan, design and deliver services for offenders, and make sure they’re based on evidence of what works.’

Auditors found that the eight Community Justice Authorities, established in 2007 to co-ordinate work between agencies and implement the National Strategy for the Management of Offenders in local areas, had not been effective. 

John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Commission, said variations in the cost of criminal justice social work must be tackled. ‘Councils should work with Community Justice Authorities to improve their understanding of why costs vary and how they relate to the quality of services,’ he said. ‘This should in turn inform decisions about how to use resources and where they can be more efficient.’

Responding to the report, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said work was already under way to address Audit Scotland’s recommendations.

She added: ‘We agree that reoffending rates have been unacceptably high over the past decade. That is why we are taking action to address low-level offenders, because evidence shows offenders who serve a short prison sentence are reconvicted three times as often as those who receive community service orders.

‘We will not be able to reduce reoffending overnight, and it will take time, effort and commitment on the part of all of those involved in the field.’

The convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee, Iain Gray, called on the government ‘to set out what evidence it has that its current approach to reducing reoffending in Scotland is working’.

He added: ‘It’s the job of the Public Audit Committee to hold to account the people trusted with spending public money, and we need to establish whether or not this substantial amount of money, £128m in 2010/11, is making a positive difference.’

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