Justice - vision and priorities: report

1. Introduction: Justice Vision and Priorities

1.1 The Justice Vision and Priorities for Scotland was published in summer 2017. Developed by Justice Analytical Services and the Justice Board for Scotland, with membership made up of the Chief Executives and leaders of our justice organisations, it set out an evidence-based set of outcomes along with a collective commitment to seven key collaborative priorities for 2017-2020 shared across our justice organisations and partners.

1.2 The Vision and Priorities were accompanied by a Delivery Plan which underpins the work on the priorities. It was planned to be revisited annually to report on progress and to be updated with new activity. The 2018-19 update confirmed that the Justice Vision and Priorities would contribute towards the delivery of a number of outcomes in the new National Performance Framework, published in 2018.

1.3 Prior to COVID 19, the plan was to report on the progress against the outcomes and to publish a new Justice Vision and Priorities in March 2021; however, the unprecedented impact of COVID 19 on both policy progress and on the justice system necessitated the establishment of a programme of work for system recovery of the justice system and to ensure a flexible, effective and efficient justice system for the future - the Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) programme. At present, the programme is still working through the "Recovery" stage, and the work to develop a new Vision and set of priorities will be informed by the RRT programme. This will include drawing on some of the innovations that have been introduced across the justice system during the COVID 19 pandemic. More information on the RRT programme is provided in Section 6.

1.4 The purpose of this report is therefore to summarise the current picture of progress and to highlight our key achievements under the seven justice priorities since 2017. Importantly, the report also describes the impact of COVID 19 on policy development and on the justice system, which has shaped the aims and objectives of the RRT programme.