Criminal Justice Committee Pre-Budget Scrutiny of the 2022/23 Budget

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

We want to hear your priorities for next year’s budget for criminal justice.

We plan to write to the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice later this year. We will be setting out our recommendations on how the budget should be spent.

What are we interested in?

The Committee wants to hear views from across all the different parts of the criminal justice sector. That is our prisons and courts, policing and fire and rescue service, criminal justice social work, the support of victims etc.

You can send us your thoughts on any relevant matter. We are keen this year though to hear views on the following:

The impact of COVID More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the criminal justice sector to recover from COVID-19?
What the cost will be of making permanent some of the temporary changes brought in because of the pandemic (if these are to become permanent)?
Whether organisations in the criminal justice sector have enough budget and staff to be able to cope with a return to pre-pandemic levels of working (e.g. expected growth in the number of court trials)?
Whether there have been any savings and efficiencies because of the different way of working during the pandemic, what these savings have been used for elsewhere, and could they be kept once the pandemic is over?
Where are the opportunities for future reform and savings?

The budget provided for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the work expected of the COPFS?
What is the expected impact of the budget of the COPFS from the recent cases of malicious prosecution?

Prisons, prison reform and secure care More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the work expected of the Scottish Prison Service?
Whether enough money has been allocated for the future modernisation of the prison estate beyond the work currently underway at HMP Glasgow and HMP Cornton Vale?
Whether the current funding model for secure care in Scotland needs reformed?

Police and fire and rescue More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service?
In particular, is there enough budget to modernise the services, their buildings, vehicles and equipment etc?

The support for victims of crime More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to enable organisations to support victims of crime?

Legal aid More Information

Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to enable people to access justice through the support provided by legal aid in criminal cases?
Whether further budget and reforms are necessary to tackle the problem of accessing legal aid in remote and rural areas of Scotland?
Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to attract people to work for organisations providing services funded by legal aid (e.g. defence solicitors)?

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government More Information

What money will be required to finance the different criminal justice policies set out in the new Programme for Government and whether any new and extra finance has been allocated for the various initiatives?

How to submit your views

Please submit your views using the online submission form, linked to below. It is not necessary to answer all questions.

We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language.

The call for views closes on 1 October 2021.

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