This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Wallace Unveils Record Spending Proposals For Justice
27/09/2000
Police forces, fire brigades and the prison service will all benefit from an extra half a billion pounds being invested in Scotland's justice system over the next three years, Justice Minister Jim Wallace told the Scottish Parliament today.
Mr Wallace set out his detailed budget proposals and told MSP's "this is the best ever spending package for Scottish justice", which "will enable further progress towards our commitment to a safer and fairer Scotland."
The Justice Minister's spending plans include:
- £165 million extra for local authorities funding for police.
- £93 million extra for central government funding for police.
- £50 million extra for Scotland's prisons.
- £71.6 million extra for Scotland's fire brigades
- £51 million extra to promote high quality court disposals focussing on priority groups.
- £12 million extra for Scotland's courts.
- £3 million for a fundamental overhaul of the Scottish Criminal Record Office's Fingerprint Service.
Jim Wallace said:
"The extra resources I am announcing today mean that by 2003 the Justice budget will be £1847 million. Put simply, this is the best ever package for Scottish justice.
"Over the next three years justice spending will increase by £488.5 million, that is nearly half a billion pounds. This means an additional £87m next year, £172m the following year and £229.5m in 2003-04. In real terms planned expenditure on Justice will be 12.8 per cent higher for central government expenditure and 7.5 per cent higher for local authority expenditure in 2003-04.
"As a consequence of these budget proposals spending on Justice will reach record levels. This can make a real difference to the people of Scotland. To make that difference we need to ensure that we get the maximum benefit from all the resources we are investing.
"It is clear to me what the people expect from a modern justice system. People want highly visible police forces that prevent and detect crime. People want our Fire Brigades to be well trained and well equipped. People want the courts to operate efficiently, effectively and fairly. People want our prisons to ensure that prisoners don't simply commit more crimes once they are released. People want the victims of crime to be given proper help and support. These are the Executive's priorities too."
On Policing
"Effective operational policing requires both front-line officers and efficient central services to support them. The funding I am allocating today raises police funding to record levels. Local authority revenue funding for the police will increase by £23.7m in 2001-02, £59.3m in 2002-03 and by £82.7m in 2003-04. Central Government funded police services, have been allocated additional sums of £22.7m in 2001-02, £35.6m in 2002-03 and £35.3m in 2003-04. Taking into account funding provided to the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency for up to an additional 200 officers, these increases will allow a sustainable increase in police numbers to record levels. Officer numbers should be able to exceed their previous record level of 15,050. This will bring higher policing visibility and faster response times as well as impacting on the crime rate and improving detection rates."
On Fingerprints
"I can also announce that £3m will be made available over three years to fund a fundamental overhaul of the Scottish Criminal Record Office's Fingerprint Service, fully implementing the recent recommendations of HMCIC."
On Prisons
"It is not enough that we are vigilant in preventing crime and catching criminals. We owe it to the Scottish community to take steps to prevent these people reoffending. We need prison programmes that return ex-offenders to the community with the right attitude skills. To that end we will be giving the Scottish Prison Service £7m more in 2001-02, £14m in 2002-03 and £29m in 2003-04, which is a real terms increase overall of 6.2 per cent over the current year.
"SPS can continue with the successful prisoner programmes which address offending behaviour, for example sex offending, cognitive skills, anger management and so on. They will also be able to accelerate the modernisation of the prison estate - creating appropriate places for the projected long-term rise in prisoner population and providing access to night sanitation.
"Within the SPS increased allocation sums of £2/4/4m in each year are earmarked for work with prisoners with a drug problem, with the objective of reducing the level of drug misuse in Scottish prisons."
On Fire Services
"Building a safer Scotland requires a properly funded fire service, with effective training and modern equipment. We recognise also that there has been concern within the service over funding of pensions. We will provide funding to deal with these concerns.
"We have increased support to local government for the fire service by £45m over the review's three year cycle, which brings an additional £8m in 2001-02, £15m in 2002-03 and £22m in 2003-04. These increases will help local authorities address the problem of the exceptional increase in fire service pension costs expected over the next three years. Still in the local authority field, Fire local authority capital is set to rise by £19m over the review period - by £4/7/8m. This will allow brigades to pursue vehicle and equipment replacements, and building projects.
"I also want to see more training, both basic and specialist. I am pleased to announce a 56.4 per cent increase in real terms over the three year period for fire service training, and fire safety promotion. The baseline increases of £2.6/2.4/2.6 will help us to meet increasing needs."
On Victims
"Building a safer society involves both tackling the underlying causes of crime and providing better support for victims and witnesses. We are funding a package of community justice services to do just that. The additional provision of £51m over the next three years will promote high quality and effective disposals for use by the courts, focussing on the key priority groups including young offenders, women and offenders with drug misuse or alcohol problems. The annual increases proposed are £9.6m in 2001-02, £18m in 2002-03 and £23.5m. By the third year this means a real terms increase of 42.7 per cent over the current year."
On Courts
"We are committed to a modern and efficient courts system, able to meet the demands of the 21 st century. Scottish Courts will receive an increase of £12m over the next three years. This breaks down to an increase of £2/4.5/5.5m in 2001-02 through to 2002-03. This provision will meet the continuing cost for the additional 5 Supreme Court and 19 permanent sheriff posts created by the Executive since July 1999, together with the appointment of part-time sheriffs to assist permanent sheriffs in meeting the demands of the courts programme."
News Release: SE2563/2000
27 Sep 2000