Skills For Justice | The Justice sector in Scotland

In this section...

The Justice sector in Scotland

The Scottish Government is the devolved Government for Scotland, and the Justice Department is responsible for developing and implementing policy for the Justice sector. This is overseen by the Minister for Justice, Kenny MacAskill.

Scotland has a distinct and separate legal and education system from England and Wales and as a result the Justice sector is different. For example, Probation is carried out by Criminal Justice Social Work within the Local Authorities, and the Children's Hearing Panel rather than the Youth Justice Boards address youth crime and offending.

The Scottish Government has recently produced 'Scotland's Criminal Justice Plan' to identify proposed reforms to the Justice sector in Scotland. This document can be viewed on the Scottish Government website. It outlines the Government's plans to address the following areas:

Protecting Communities and Preventing Crime
Tackling Drugs in Our Communities
Reform of Scotland's Courts
Effective Interventions and Sentences which Fit the Crime
Integrated Services for Managing Offender

The main organisations represented within the Justice sector in Scotland are outlined below.

Community Justice and Voluntary Sector

There are approximately 22,100 voluntary sector organisations in Scotland, operating within the Justice sector. 40% of these organisations work in the Social Care field, 26% work with Youth, 30% work in Community Development and Social Enterprise and 4% work in the field of Equality and Law. The sector is mostly comprised of small organisations with 1% of the sector receiving 57% of the overall share of income.

In Scotland the largest Community Justice organisations work either with offenders or with victims, survivors and witnesses. These include organisations such as:

More information on the Scottish voluntary sector.

Policing

There are eight Police Forces in Scotland who employ a total of 23,809 staff. These include:

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPOS) also covers Scotland as part of its remit in developing policing policies.

Training for Police Officers in Scotland is carried out at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan.

Prisons

There are 16 prisons in Scotland, 15 of which are managed by the Scottish Prison Service. These are

Aberdeen
Castle Huntly
Dumfries
Glenochil
HM Young Offenders Institute Polmont
Noranside
Peterhead
Barlinnie
Cornton Vale
Edinburgh
Greenock
Inverness
Low Moss
Perth
Shotts
Kilmarnock Prison is run by Premier Custodial Group, and is Scotland's only privately run prison.

The Scottish Prison Service currently employs 4,515 staff. Training and development within the Scottish Prison Service is carried out at the Scottish Prison Service College in Falkirk.

Private Sector

There is an increasing number of private sector organisations working within the Justice Sector in Scotland. These include Premier, who run HMP Kilmarnock and Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre and Reliance Security Group.

Reliance Security Group is comprised of Reliance Custodial Services and Reliance Monitoring Services in Scotland. Reliance Custodial Services transport prisoners to and from courts, prisons and police stations; while Reliance Monitoring Services provide electronic tagging and monitoring, voice verification and monitoring of substance misuse services within Scotland.

Scottish Court Service

The Scottish Court Service makes up 3.6% of the Justice sector in Scotland and aims to provide ready access to justice for the people of Scotland. The staff complement is 1,066 and is made up of the following business units.

Headquarters in Edinburgh is made up of 4 units:

Operations and Policy Unit
Personnel and Development Unit
Finance and Information Technology Unit
Property and Service Unit

The Supreme Courts is made up of 4 units:

High Court of Judiciary in Glasgow
Accountant of Courts Office in Edinburgh
The Court of Session in Edinburgh
The Office of the Public Guardian in Falkirk

There are 49 Sheriff Courts across Scotland.

Further information on the Scottish Courts Service website.

Criminal Justice Social Work

Criminal Justice Social Work Services (CJSW) are part of the work of the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland and provide the probation service within Scotland. They are responsible for delivering pre-sentence reports to courts, providing community sentences and supervising offenders who have been released or who are on statutory licence and voluntary throughcare.

CJSW are also responsible for the provision of community sentences such as Supervised Attendance Orders and Drug Treatment Orders.

Further information is available on the Scottish Justice Sector, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, and Scottish Government websites.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)

COPFS provides Scotland's independent public prosecution and deaths investigation service. It makes up 5% of the Justice Sector workforce in Scotland (public sector organisations), with a staff total of 1512.

There are 49 Procurator Fiscal District offices across Scotland, each with an Area Fiscal. Headquarters is at the Crown Office in Edinburgh and is made up of the following units:

Operations
Policy Group
Management Services Group

More information is on the Crown Office website

Justice Department

The Justice Department is part of the Scottish Government, and is comprised of four key groups. These include:

Criminal Justice Group
Courts Group
Police and Community Safety Group
Civil and International Group

The Minister for Justice is Kenny MacAskill MSP.

Immigration

Scotland has only one Immigration Removal Centre at Dungavel in Lanarkshire, and this is managed by Premier Custodial Group.

HM Revenue and Customs

HM Revenue and Customs is the new department responsible for the business of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise.

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Services is made up of eight Services, combined they have a total of 8,310 firefighters and control room staff. Scotland has a total of 388 fire stations or volunteer units. The Scottish operational fleet is currently 596 vehicles.

The performance of the services in Scotland is monitored and examined in a number of ways:

Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG)

The MAG takes a forward-looking role, mapping-out and considering major issues which impact upon the fire and rescue services:

To identify and consider major issues relating to the Fire and Rescue Services which may benefit from Ministerial attention, either through legislation, guidance or influence
To monitor the progress of modernisation within the fire and rescue services and suggest areas where new approaches may be required

Scottish Fire & Rescue Services Framework

The ‘Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland’, sets-out policies, objectives and guidance for Fire and Rescue Authorities and joint fire and rescue boards so that the public are properly protected from fire and other emergencies. The Framework makes clear what Ministers, on behalf of the people of Scotland, expect from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and the support which the Scottish Government will give to ensure that those expectations can be met. The Framework sets standards for the service and, in some specific circumstances, indicates how the service should undertake particular functions.

Scottish Fire Services College

The work of the Scottish Fire Services College is overseen by the Director of Fire Service Training for Scotland. In addition to this remit the Director is responsible for administering centrally funded learning and development activity for all the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services.

In April 2009, the UK Fire sector entered our footprint and we now work closely with employers and key stakeholders to help them meet the key challenges that our employers face to enable them to get the right people, with the right skills.

Take a look at the new Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS)|

To look at the Fire Safety qualifications click here|