Covering Letter
Dear Consultee
Re:duce, Re:habilitate, Re:form - A consultation on Reducing Reoffending in Scotland.
The Scottish Executive has made the reform of the criminal justice system in Scotland a priority. We have already introduced a number of initiatives and will continue to do so until we achieve a fair, efficient system which delivers the safer communities the people of Scotland deserve.
The enclosed consultation pack seeks your views on the issue of reducing reoffending in Scotland. Inside you will find facts and figures about the current criminal justice system in Scotland, how it works, who is involved and the impact they have on reducing reoffending. We want your views about what is good about the system, what can be improved, and how offenders can best be managed in prison and in the community so that the likelihood of their reoffending in the future is minimised.
This consultation meets our partnership commitment to consult on proposals to establish a single agency to deliver custodial and non-custodial sentences. We want your views on how our criminal justice services might better be structured to deliver the efficient and effective service we need to reduce reoffending.
We are inviting responses from everyone with an interest in our criminal justice system, including those agencies working within the system, those who provide services, communities (victims, those affected by crime and the general public), offenders and their families. A list of those to whom we are sending our consultation pack is enclosed. We want to encourage debate in a number of ways:
A series of meetings and focus groups is being arranged to take place over the next 3 months so that we can discuss these issues with you and listen to your views.
A discussion forum will take place on the Reoffending Consultation webpages (log on to www.scotland.gov.uk/reoffendingconsultation/) where you can exchange views with other interested parties in addition to your formal response. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.
We are also inviting written responses to this consultation paper by Tuesday 25 May. Written responses may be submitted in the following ways:
Alternatively, you may prefer to send a hard copy of your response to:
Reducing Reoffending Division
Room GW.15
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG.
We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to (using the consultation response form if appropriate) as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.
All responses should also include a completed Respondee Information Form, which you will find attached to the Response Sheet. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately.
We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive library by Thursday 24 June and on the Scottish Executive Consultation Web Pages by Thursday 1 July, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website. Decisions on the outcome of the consultation will be made as soon as possible thereafter.
A list of the main organisations we are consulting is attached to this letter. A full list is available on request.
If you would like any further information about this consultation - including information on how to obtain copies of the consultation pack in alternative formats and languages - please contact Kirsten Davidson on 0131 244 1770.
FRANCESCA OSOWSKA
Reducing Reoffending Division
The Scottish Executive Consultation Process
Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.
While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.
Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive website enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisation has requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).
The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:
- indicate the need for policy development or review
- inform the development of a particular policy
- help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
- be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.
SEconsult
A new email alert system for SE consultations SEconsult is currently being planned. This system will allow stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult will complement, but in no way replace, SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to 'keep an eye' on all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We will publicise the launch of the system on the SE website and would encourage you to register when it is available.
If you have any comment about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Kirsten Davidson at the address provided.
MAIN DISTRIBUTION LIST
Local Authorities
Chief Executives
Directors of Social Work
Association of Directors of Social Work
British Association of Social Work (Scotland)
Prisons
Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service
HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Prison Governors
Scottish Prison Officers Association
Scottish Prison Service College
Chairs of Prison Visiting Committees
Police
Chief Constables
Scottish Police College
Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency
Scottish Criminal Records Office
Scottish Police Federation
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Courts etc
Chief Executive, Scottish Court Service
Chief Executive, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
Lord President and Lord Justice General
Law Society of Scotland
Faculty of Advocates
District Courts Association
Stipendiary Magistrates
Sheriff Principals
Sheriffs Association
Scottish Law Commission
Scottish Legal Aid Board
Scottish Committee of the Council of Tribunals
Scottish Children's Reporter Association
Judicial Studies Board
Parole Board for Scotland
Victims Organisations
Voluntary Organisations, including
SCVO
Criminal Justice Service Providers
Providers of related services
Academic
University Departments of Social Work
Law Schools
Social Work Research Centre, Stirling
Criminal Justice Social Work Development Centre
Other Criminal Justice Organisations, including
HMI Probation (England and Wales)
Northern Ireland Probation Board
Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice
NOTA (Scotland)
Howard League for Penal Reform
Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency
Housing Organisations, including
Chartered Institute of Housing
Scottish Council for Single Homeless
Scottish Homes
Communities Scotland
Education and Children's Organisations
Health Organisations, including
NHS Health Boards
Other health-related organisations
Drugs / Alcohol organisations
ADATs
Equality Groups
Trades Unions