A report into how well community payback orders are implemented and managed in Dumfries and Galloway has been published by the Care Inspectorate.
Inspectors looked at how the justice social work service in the area was delivering services for individuals who are, or have been, subject to community payback orders.
The inspection took place between November and December 2019.
Inspectors found that concerted efforts had been made to modernise the service, strengthen the workforce and improve performance.
However, they also noted: “The service had yet to achieve lasting improvements in several key areas of performance, particularly in relation to unpaid work, where some measures were yet to meet local and national targets.”
They reported that as a result of sustained investment in infrastructure and a revised service delivery model ‘the service was delivering an extensive range of justice social work services across a wide, largely rural geographical area.
They also found: “A commitment to person-centred approaches meant individuals were benefitting from access to an extensive range of structured interventions and services to meet identified need and risk irrespective of where they lived.
“For many individuals these were proving to be ‘transformative’ and ‘life changing’, encouraging them to consider their past behaviours and impact upon others, often for the first time.
“Positive outcomes (were) being achieved for individuals, particularly in relation to confidence building, community inclusion and understanding offending behaviour.’ ‘There were encouraging examples of people becoming better connected to sources of support which was helping to reduce isolation and improve social integration.”
A programme of repositioning and realignment of governance arrangements had “brought a sharper focus on justice issues from elected members and senior officers which was helping to develop a distinct vision for the service.”
And leaders “showed commitment to delivering demonstrable changes in the lives of individuals, expressing clear intentions to establish better outcome measures within a coherent performance monitoring and reporting framework.”
Peter Macleod, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: ‘Effective community-based sentencing options are essential to the successful implementation of the Scottish Government’s community justice strategy and the extension of the presumption against short sentences.
‘In this context, the Care Inspectorate is focusing inspections of justice social work services on how well community payback orders are implemented and managed, as well as how effectively services are achieving positive outcomes.
“It is encouraging that effective leaders are driving positive change and taking appropriate steps towards demonstrating the difference justice social work services can make in the lives of individuals.
“This contributes to our confidence that the justice service in Dumfries and Galloway has both the commitment and capacity to deliver the identified areas for improvement.’
The report is available here: http://bit.ly/dumfriesandgalloway-justice