National Community Justice Strategy and Performance Framework: impact assessments

Community Justice Performance Framework: Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

Step One – Develop a Clear Understanding of your Objectives:

• What are the objectives of the policy, strategy or service?
• Do you need to consult?
• How are islands identified for the purpose of the policy, strategy or service?
• What are the intended impacts/outcomes and how do these potentially differ in the islands?
• Is the policy, strategy or service new?

The Community Justice Performance Framework (CJPF) supersedes the Outcomes, Performance and Improvement Framework published in 2016.

The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) requires the Scottish Ministers to publish a national performance framework in relation to community justice, setting out nationally determined outcomes which are to be achieved in each local authority area, and national indicators which are to be used in measuring performance against these.

The Act requires community justice partners for the area of a local authority to publish a Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan (CJOIP), setting out which nationally determined outcomes are a priority for action and planned actions required to achieve or maintain the nationally determined outcomes, and any other locally determined outcomes. Community justice partners for each local area are also required to publish an annual report on progress towards achieving the outcomes.

The 2016 Act also requires Community Justice Scotland (CJS) to review the performance framework from time to time, and at least every 5 years. If CJS makes proposals for the revision of the framework, the Scottish Ministers must either publish a revised framework reflecting its proposals (with or without modifications) or confirm that the framework will not be revised. CJS formally submitted proposals to Scottish Ministers on 29 September 2022 for the revision of the framework. CJS carried out extensive stakeholder engagement to develop these proposals.

Following receipt of CJS’s proposals, modifications were made before a revised framework was published on 31 March 2023. As required by the 2016 Act, CJS was consulted by the Scottish Ministers in relation to those modifications.

The CJPF is aligned to the National Strategy for Community Justice which was revised in 2022. Specifically, the outcomes included in the CJPF align directly with the priority actions contained within the strategy, reframing these in a way which will allow related progress and performance to be assessed. The strategy was the subject of two public consultations (with responses received from island local authorities), a series of associated virtual workshop sessions and numerous engagements with partners. A broad range of stakeholders have therefore been engaged in relation to the policies underpinning the CJPF, including national organisations, local authorities, Community Justice Partnerships (CJPs) and third sector organisations, including victims organisations. Among the local authorities and CJPs that responded, there was wide geographical coverage.

Compared to the previous version, the CJPF has been significantly streamlined, with a clear focus on robust and measurable indicator data. In addition, where possible, national indicator data will be centrally sourced by the Scottish Government and disaggregated to local partners. This should allow community justice partnerships to focus on delivery and improvement, and ensure that the data used are high quality and consistent.

Step Two – Gather your data and identify your stakeholders:

• What data is available about the current situation in the islands?
• Who are your key Stakeholders?
• How does any existing data differ between islands?
• Are there any existing design features or mitigations in place?

At the last census (2011), a total of 93 islands in Scotland were inhabited, with a total population of 103,700 (2% of the total population of Scotland). There are three island authorities: Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar which are not attached to Scotland’s mainland. Local authorities such as Argyll and Bute, Highland and North Ayrshire, have inhabitable offshore islands within their boundary areas. Of these Argyll and Bute and Highland had the largest populations 15,105 and 10,349 respectively. North Ayrshire was the next at 6,036 the rest are under 10.^[12]

The population for the Island Local Authorities in 2021^[13] was 26,640 for Na h-Eileanan Siar, 22,940 for Shetland Islands and 22,540 for Orkney Islands. This was about 1.3% of Scotland’s population in 2021.

The crime rate of the islands is generally much lower compared to the Scotland rate for 2020-21. Scotland’s total number of recorded crimes per 10,000 population was 524. For the island authorities, this is 165, 199 and 233 per 10,000 people from Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar respectively. For Argyll and Bute and Highland, the rate was 352 and 394 respectively.^[14]

None of the island local authorities have a prison situated on them. Like all local authorities in Scotland they have justice social work services. These services provide support to and in relation to people before conviction, after conviction, and in other justice-related contexts (for example diversion from prosecution) and involve services in custody or in the community.

The order rates per 10,000 population for community payback orders imposed in 2019-20 was 22, 27 and 44 per 10,000 for Na h-Eileanan Siar, Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands respectively. The rates for Na h-Eileanan Siar and Shetland Islands were much lower than the Scotland total of 44 per 10,000, while for Orkney Islands it was much the same. During the pandemic the order rates for Scotland decreased to 31.5 per 10,000 in 2021-22. A decrease in order rates was seen in the island authorities during this time. In 2021-22, order rates per 10,000 population for community payback orders imposed was 20, 19 and 25 per 10,000 for Na h-Eileanan Siar, Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands respectively.

The order rates for the Island authorities tend to fluctuate more year on year due to the smaller numbers of orders. For the last five years since 2021-22, the number of community payback orders have ranged from^[15]:

Na h-Eileanan Siar: 9 to 25

Orkney Islands: 17 to 44

Shetland Islands: 21 to 37

It is therefore likely that the outcomes of the performance framework will affect proportionally fewer people in Island communities.

Currently the cost of transport on the Islands is higher relative to income than in the rest of Scotland.^[16] The national plan for Scotland’s Islands describes travel to some Islands as complex and more expensive than travel elsewhere. The cost, time and complexity of travel arrangements to some Island communities could impact on people returning to the islands from custody or court.

The Shetland Community Justice Plan highlights the support that is available to those released from custody, much of which is supported by volunteers^[17]. In addition, there are several national organisations which work across the whole of Scotland to provide post-release support.

There is no definitive mapping available which sets out all local/national projects that provide services within island communities.

No information is available in relation to how existing data differs between the different islands within relevant local authorities.

Key stakeholders:

A broad range of partners contribute to the achievement of community justice outcomes, including statutory partners as defined in the Act, communities and the third sector, who play a vital role both in the planning and delivery of services.

The statutory partners for community justice as outlined in the Act are:

• Chief Constable of Police Scotland
• Health Boards
• Integration Joint Boards for Health and Social Care
• Local Authorities
• Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Scottish Ministers (i.e. Scottish Prison Service, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service)
• Skills Development Scotland

CJS also holds a statutory duty to monitor the performance of each local authority area in the achievement of nationally and locally-determined community justice outcomes. It has powers to identify and promote good practice; provide advice, guidance and assistance to the community justice partnerships; and to make national and local improvement recommendations where appropriate.

Scottish Government officials also frequently engage with both COSLA and Social Work Scotland who have previously provided input on the potential impact of the strategy (which, as noted earlier, underpins the approach taken in the CJPF) on local authorities and have highlighted issues around geographical variation of services, which officials have also taken into account prior to publishing the performance framework.

Step Three – Consultation:

• Is there any information already gathered through previous engagements?
• How will you carry out your consultation and in what timescales? Public meetings/Local Authorities/key Stakeholders
• What questions will you ask when considering how to address island realities?
• Separate consultation events for Island communities/Local Authorities?

CJS has carried out extensive consultation when developing the aforementioned CJPF proposals. For instance, when considering the implementation of the performance framework, 37 community justice partnership (CJP) Chairs and Coordinators attended a series of small group sessions, representing 28 out of the 30 CJPs. In addition, conversations with 18 individuals from the Scottish Government, CJS and the Care Inspectorate were held, mostly in a one-to-one setting. This activity was in addition to the extensive engagement with stakeholders as part of the project to revise the framework.

A public consultation on proposals for the strategy ran from 13 April 2022 to 25 May 2022. As previously mentioned, this is highly relevant as the outcomes within the performance framework are intrinsically linked to the priority actions contained within the strategy. While the questions did not specifically ask about potential impacts of the proposals on people in rural or island communities, some responses did contain information in this regard.

Prior to the publication of the performance framework, multiple virtual events/sessions were organised for members of the Community Justice Network - which includes staff members from the island local authorities. The most recent event involved breakout discussion sessions (each attended by SG analytical and policy colleagues) and an opportunity for Q&A. Feedback from this event on the CJPF, including on the alignment of the CJPF to the National Strategy for Community Justice, and the simpler and more concise approach being taken, was generally positive.

Prior to publication, island authority community justice coordinators have been asked if they have any specific concerns which require to be addressed on the implementation of the performance framework or in relation to the development of related revised statutory guidance which will be published in due course. There is also a Guidance and Technical Notes document which accompanies the CJPF, and sets out guidance on how to use the CJPF and technical notes on each national indicator. This includes a section on the impact of dealing with small numbers in the data (which is discussed below). This section has been signposted to relevant coordinators and a dedicated session for coordinators from island local authorities has been organised following the launch of the CJPF to discuss any concerns with working with the data to be provided.

Step Four – Assessment:

• Does your assessment identify any unique impacts on island communities? (Demographic, Economic, Gaelic, Social)

We recognise that the crime rate on the islands is generally lower than that of Scotland as a whole. This, combined with the relatively low population of the islands, means that there is not the range of community justice services (particularly specialist services) which may be available in a larger local authority area.

• Does your assessment identify any potential barriers or wider impacts?

We recognise that the provision of community justice services to individuals (including victims, survivors, those with lived experience of the justice system and their families), may be more limited.

We also recognise that, due to the population level, the national indicators contained in the performance framework may produce very small numbers – which means that the process of planning may be different from other local authorities. However, this does not only affect islands authorities, as some mainland rural authorities are in a similar situation. This is also a continuation of the current situation (as the legislative reporting requirements have been in place since 2016) and we do not anticipate that the publication of the revised performance framework itself will have any new significant impact on island communities as a whole that differs from the impact of non-island communities.

• How will you address these?

The performance framework includes a specific recognition of the different populations of community justice partnership areas. It provides guidance, within the accompanying Guidance and Technical Notes document, on how to analyse datasets which involve small numbers. In addition to this guidance, a dedicated session will be organised with island local authority community justice coordinators following publication of the performance framework.

In addition, all local authorities can supplement the national indicators with the use of local evidence. The national indicators will provide a measure of performance in achieving the nationally determined outcomes and indicate areas for improvement. Local evidence will provide further context to this and enable local analysis to be undertaken to explore specific improvements that may be needed.

Further guidance on how this local evidence should be gathered and analysed will be set out by Community Justice Scotland in Improvement Tools. There is an expectation that local areas will develop, gather and utilise information in collaboration with Community Justice Scotland in order to support ongoing improvement work and the achievement of the nationally determined outcomes. This includes an expectation that local areas will provide Community Justice Scotland with local evidence as part of its annual reporting for Scotland as a whole.

Is a full Islands Communities Impact assessment Required?

You must now determine whether, in your opinion, your policy, strategy or service is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).

To form your opinion, the following questions should be considered:

• Are there mitigations in place for the impacts identified and noted above from stakeholders and community consultations?

We are satisfied that CJS carried out a robust process of stakeholder engagement with island local authorities and reflected the feedback they received when drafting their proposals. While the Scottish Government has modified these proposals, the substance of the national outcomes, which are at the core of the revised performance framework, has not been substantially altered and these are closely linked to the priority actions within the National Strategy for Community Justice. These priority actions have been subject to consultation, and a separate ICIA for the strategy (which will also reflect the strategy’s accompanying delivery plan) will be published in due course, following the finalisation of the delivery plan. Prior to the publication of the CJPF we also ensured that all local authorities, including island local authorities, were able to provide feedback through the aforementioned virtual event.

The simplified performance framework and the revised approach to data collection is, in part, in response to feedback from stakeholders. As previously noted, generally positive feedback was received on both these changes. We have also emphasised that local authorities can supply local evidence to supplement the national indicators, as this will provide further context to national indicator data and enable local analysis to be undertaken.

We are satisfied that appropriate mitigation is in place to address potential concerns around how relevant staff interpret/use data to complete the relevant statutory reporting requirements. Specifically, this is in the form of the aforementioned section of the accompanying guidance document, a bespoke session with island coordinators and continued support that will be provided to all local authority areas (including island communities) in relation to their statutory duties under the Community Justice (Scotland) Act by CJS.

• Does the evidence show different circumstances or different expectations or needs, or different experiences or outcomes (such as different levels of satisfaction, or different rates of participation)?

There is evidence that crime is generally lower in island communities. Due to this, and the lower population levels, there may be smaller numbers to analyse when reporting. However, this is an issue that is also applicable to certain mainland local authorities – particular ones which are smaller in population or predominantly rural.

As previously mentioned, guidance has been issued within the accompanying guidance on how to address the impact of the smaller population when interpreting indicator data and a dedicated session will be organised with staff working for island local authorities.

• Are these different effects likely?

No – the performance framework is a revised version of the previous statutory document and the underpinning requirements placed on coordinators, which are determined by primary legislation, have not changed.

Since 2016 all local authorities areas have been under the same statutory duties. Identical funding to support has been specifically allocated by the Scottish Government to each local authority to support collaborative working.

As previously discussed, the CJPF introduces an improvement to the current model in which the Scottish Government will provide the majority of the indicator data to partnerships – which will be of benefit to all local authorities.

We therefore do not believe that the revision of the performance framework will produce different effects on island communities.

• Are these effects significantly different?

N/A

• Could the effect amount to a disadvantage for an island community compared to the mainland or between island groups?

N/A

If your answer is No to the above questions, please complete the box below.

A Full Islands Community Impact Assessment is Not required

In preparing the ICIA, I have formed an opinion that our policy, strategy or service is NOT likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities). The reason for this is detailed above.

Reason for not completing a full Islands Communities Impact Assessment:

A partial ICIA has been prepared and published, which satisfactorily addresses the islands communities impacts of the performance framework in line with available evidence.

ICIA approved by: Cat Dalrymple

Position: Deputy Director

Signature: C Dalrymple

Date approved: 29/3/23