Community Justice Programme Board: terms of reference

Purpose and aim

The Community Justice Programme Board (CJPB) will provide the delivery and accountability mechanism for the “Shifting the balance between custody and justice in the community” Transformational Change Programme (TCP 2), enabling partners to raise the profile of achievements, assess and monitor, progress and delivery, and enable and ensure collaborative working. The CJPB’s purpose is to ensure that the TCP2 and its constituent projects are delivering, on track, making cross-sector connections, responding to issues, managing and reducing risks and maximising opportunities. 

Aims and objectives

The Community Justice Programme Board forms a key part of the collaborative reporting and accountability cycle. It ensures programmes are on track for delivery and that effective joint working is taking place both across justice sector boundaries, but also with other delivery partners and stakeholders. It monitors progress across the programmes and holds deep dives into areas of particular concern.

The role of the board is to challenge and adapt any aspects within the programme and its identified projects that do not deliver on the ambitions of the Vision for Justice and the National Strategy for Community Justice. It also ensures accountability across programmes in which objectives are shared and responsibilities clearly allocated across the sector.

The board has a number of levers available to ensure the successful delivery of the programmes. These include: 

• recommending where remedial action is required by programme directors to ensure delivery is on track
• escalating major delivery concerns to justice partner leadership where decisions are required on accelerating or stopping activity
• advising on whether the actions across the programmes remain necessary for transforming the sector in light of changing conditions
• through the use of soft power to ensure a cross-sector collaborative approach in delivering the Vision

Background

There are currently three TCPs which are being established across Justice Directorate within the Scottish Government:

• person-centred and trauma informed justice (TCP 1)
• shifting the balance between custody and justice in the community (TCP 2)
• criminal justice system efficiency (TCP 3)

These TCPs will be consistent with the priorities and aims of the Vision for Justice in Scotland and deliver key outcomes across the justice system which require input from and collaboration between a number of partners. 

The central aim of TCP 2, which focuses on community justice, will be to promote a shift in how we address offending and reoffending, with reduced use of custody and greater use of justice in the community, while continuing to protect the public and robustly respond to issues and manage risk. 

A delivery plan to accompany the revised National Strategy for Community Justice will be published in spring 2023, setting out specific deliverables mapped to priority actions, with lead organisations and timescales attached. This plan will form the basis for, and define the scope of, TCP 2.

Vision of TCP 2 – Shifting the balance between custody and justice in the community 

The long-term aim of this TCP is that people in Scotland should only be held in custody when they pose a risk of serious harm to public safety. Imprisonment is inherently damaging to the connections which prevent people from offending, such as family relationships, accommodation, and employment. 

The evidence shows that community-based interventions can be more effective in assisting with rehabilitation and reducing reoffending than short-term custodial sentences, while protecting the public and robustly managing risk. 

We will make Scotland a safer place by encouraging a shift in the balance between use of custody and justice in the community, supporting our overarching aim to support rehabilitation, reduce reoffending, and protect the public, leading to fewer victims and safer communities.

Community justice delivery plan

The deliverables in the community justice strategy delivery plan will directly link with the thirteen priority actions in the national strategy for community justice and will contain clear timescales and details of responsibility.

The delivery plan is not a statutory document, but is intended to set out time-limited deliverables, detailing agreed work being taken forward by the Scottish Government and national community justice partners to drive improvement towards each of the priority actions in the strategy

The delivery plan is to be published and will be refreshed on an annual basis. It will be Scottish Government-owned, but its content will be agreed by all relevant community justice partners (or their representative bodies).

Identification of new projects

Where it is thought beneficial for there to be additional national – level governance to ensure the achievement of a specific deliverable (or multiple deliverables) within the delivery plan, establishing a new TCP project group will be considered by the CJPB. 

Where items in the delivery plan do not require to be taken forward as a project, it is proposed that the CJPB role will be more limited and focused on oversight. 

Prior to the first meeting of the CJPB, project initiation proposals will be issued for it to consider and discuss on potential projects that could be included within the TCP 2. These will contain details of the Project vision, mission, scope, deliverables and stakeholders.

Membership

Membership of the board will consist of representatives from a range of community justice partners as well as Scottish Government. The proposed membership of this board is detailed below (although organisations are free to nominate alternative members as appropriate).

Depending on the nature of the agenda, specialists may be called upon as needed to provide expert advice and guidance to the group.

Whilst the CJPB cannot have representatives for every justice partner without losing its strategic delivery focus, it will aim to identify representation which ensures there is expertise and insight within the CJPB and a robust feedback mechanism to ensure that partners who are not represented on the board are appropriately engaged. 

All CJPB members are expected to have high-level responsibilities for the functions/organisations they represent and ensure that strategic and operational decisions can be effectively made by their organisations in relation to this work. Single representatives are expected for functions/organisations except for exceptional reasons agreed in advance by the Chair.

Once the programme board agrees the areas of the delivery plan which require additional governance, projects will be identified, together with the designated project manager and details of project deliverables, benefits and associated governance.

The membership of this board will be reviewed every six months to ensure it remains up to date and effective.

Accountability, governance and support

Cat Dalrymple, Deputy Director of Community Justice Division within the Scottish Government, will be Senior Responsible Officer for TCP 2. She will be assisted by the Programme Director and Manager who will have responsibility for ensuring all the responsibilities in the programme are adequately assigned and undertaken. 

The CJPB will be chaired by the SG Director for Justice and will bring together senior representatives from partner organisations to ensure the programme (and its constituent projects) are on track, make cross-sector connections, and resolve issues (including in relation to resources) before progress is reported to the Criminal Justice Board. 

To predominantly operate by agreeing best practice principles, thresholds, processes and systems, through core members of the CJPB holding each other to account for their delivery. 

The CJPB is not established on a statutory basis. It is therefore not subject to the formal public appointments process and the requirements of the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland. 

The CJPB recognises that decisions about prosecution and sentencing in individual cases continue to be the independent responsibility of the Lord Advocate and judiciary respectively. These will consequently not be a focus of the TCP.  

The CJPB will report into the Criminal Justice Board (or their deputies as required).

Individual members will remain responsible for governance relating to their existing functions/organisations existing people, processes, and systems

Members will agree to abide by the following norms:

• attend the majority of meetings
• observe good time keeping
• take individual responsibility for engaging and completing tasks delegated to them

CJPB will meet every eight weeks initially, and at intervals it determines appropriate thereafter, with meeting dates agreed at least a month in advance. Meetings will take place via Microsoft Teams or in accessible locations. 

Any inputs shared with the CJPB for discussion will be considered confidential (Official Sensitive) and not for further sharing.  

Where urgent business needs to be conducted between meetings, the Chair will seek members views on an ad-hoc basis and the outcome will be reported at the next meeting of the CJPB.

The secretariat function for the CJPB will be provided by the Head of Justice Programme Management Office within the Scottish Government Justice Transformation Division. 

Papers and items aim to be circulated 5 working days in advance of meetings. Late papers will not be considered unless agreed with the Chair. 

Draft minutes and actions aim to be shared with members five working days after each meeting and agreed on-line. 

Fairness at Work

In line with Scottish Government policy on Fairness at Work, CJPB members:

• have a responsibility to respect the dignity of others
• must avoid behaving in a way that may cause offence or distress to your colleagues or others with whom you have contact as part of your duties, including service users and external contacts. It does not matter whether the perceived harassment, victimisation, discrimination or bullying is unintentional
• should be considerate of Scottish Government policies on equal opportunities and diversity
• should support any member/colleague who feels that they have been harassed, victimised, discriminated against or bullied and encourage them to seek help from an appropriate source
• behave appropriately at all times towards the people you work with
• remember that inappropriate behaviour is behaviour which is “viewed as demeaning and unacceptable to the recipient”
• should raise issues with the Chair or Secretariat if you feel that you have been treated unacceptably
• should try to support anyone that you feel is being treated unacceptably and encourage them to seek help. If they do not feel able to report the behaviour themselves, you should raise the issues with the Chair or Secretariat

Membership

Details of member organisation – including programme roles

• Director of Justice, Scottish Government (Chair)
• Senior Responsible Owner, Scottish Government
• Programme Manager, Scottish Government
• Programme Director, Scottish Government
• PMO Lead/PMO, Scottish Government
• COSLA
• Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum (CJVSF)
• Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Community Justice Network 
• Public Health Scotland
• Risk Management Authority
• National Police Care Network and National Prison Care Network 
• Care Inspectorate
• Community Justice Scotland
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Police Scotland
• Skills Development Scotland
• Social Work Scotland
• Scottish Prison Service (SPS)
• Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO)