Criminal Justice Programme Board minutes: May 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Neil Rennick (Chair, Scottish Government (SG))
• Willie Cowan (Deputy Director Justice Transformation, SG)
• Anna Donald (Deputy Director Criminal Justice, SG)
• Fiona Cameron (SG)
• Ruth McCallum (TCP 3 Programme Manager, SG)
• Amy Wilson (Head of Justice Analytical Services (JAS), SG)
• Gemma Fraser (Community Justice Scotland (CJS))
• Jennifer Harrower (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS))
• ACC Wendy Middleton (Police Scotland)
• Rob Hay (Police Scotland)
• Marie-Louise Fox (Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB))
• Danielle McLaughlin (Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS))
• Sue Brookes (Scottish Prison Service (SPS))
• Cameron Stewart (Strategy and Performance Unit Head, SG)
• Naomi Gregg (Head of Justice Portfolio Management Office (PMO), SG )
• Karl Champion (Senior Officer PMO, SG)

Apologies

• David Fraser (SCTS)
• Mike Milligan (SCTS)

Items and actions

Agenda

1    Welcome and introductions 
2    Key notes and actions
3    Outcomes
4    Recognising returns
5    Future meeting schedule
6    Any other business

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to the second meeting of the Criminal Justice Programme Board and reminded attendees that the meeting oversees two of the justice transformation change programmes (TCPs): Person Centred and Trauma Informed Justice (TCP 1); and Criminal Justice System Efficiency (TCP 3).

Key notes and actions

The Chair asked board members if they had any comments on the key notes and actions circulated. No comments were raised so the document was accepted.

Outcomes

Scottish Government (SG) presented a slide pack on the outcomes for TCP 3. There was a discussion around the outcomes, with board members keen to ensure that they were framed appropriately. The board discussed the hierarchy of governance, particularly in the case where a project is led by the judiciary. SG reassured that judiciary-led projects would continue to be led by the judiciary through engagement with relevant organisations, but that the board would receive updates on progress.

There was some concern that in practice this may, and has, caused issues. SG explained that this programme was established to bring together some projects that were already live with a view to aligning resources and working towards the shared vision and outcomes. It was agreed that board members would review the framing of the outcomes and provide feedback.

The board recognised that there will need to be a culture shift in a number of areas and organisations to enable this programme to be successful and consideration will need to be given to how to achieve this. It will be a function of the programme board to support this.

SG will be coordinating responses across all three TCPs. It will be useful to see how all this work is supporting the Vision for Justice.

The programme board were generally in agreement with the direction of travel and are keen to see further iterations of the example information provided.

SG discussed the Person Centred and Trauma Informed programme (TCP 1) and how we have mapped the wider Vision for Justice into the programme vision. SG have taken five existing projects and found seven areas that span across all projects where benefits can be aligned. SG recognised that there are lots of challenges in doing this, in particular around building the programme approach around existing work. SG also showed how the outcomes and benefits have been developed gives the projects a really solid evidence base.

The Chair reassured attendees that as much as possible we are trying to draw on existing sources and that part of work is seeing how this all fits together.

Action 1-0305 – TCP 3 Programme Manager to circulate presentation for feedback via the Porftolio Management Office (PMO).

Action 2-0305 - All board members to carry out review of presentation and provided initial feedback on the framing of the outcomes by close of play Friday 19 May.

Recognising returns

The TCP 3 Programme Manager thanked members for the returns that were submitted and explained that, due to the bank holiday weekend, there wasn’t time to format them into a report for presentation at the board meeting.

Future meeting schedule

SG PMO discussed the need to reconsider the schedule for the board meetings to recognise the time needed for all parties to prepare and provide returns. This may mean board meetings occur in the second week of the month rather than the first.

Action 3-0305 – PMO to pull together more achievable meeting schedule and issue invites.

Any other business

No further business.