Community justice strategy: delivery plan

Aim 1 - Optimise the use of diversion and intervention at the earliest opportunity

Priority Action 1:

Enhance intervention at the earliest opportunity by ensuring greater consistency, confidence in and awareness of services which support the use of direct measures and diversion from prosecution

Deliverables

1. Establish a working group or other appropriate structure to consider the 'Joint review of diversion from prosecution' report and the implementation of recommendations as appropriate. This will take into account ongoing improvement work on diversion from prosecution.

Timescale: October 2023

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - Scottish Government
• In collaboration with - partners involved in the delivery of diversion from prosecution, including COPFS, Community Justice Scotland, third sector, Police Scotland and Local Authorities

Further Detail:

The review has been carried out by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS), the Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS).

The aim of the review was to assess the operation and impact of diversion from prosecution in Scotland. The review was published on 23 February 2023. This deliverable relates to the first recommendation of the review.

2. Launch and support the embedding of updated Diversion from Prosecution Guidelines. This will take into account the Drugs Death Taskforce Report and the 'Joint review of diversion from prosecution' report.

Timescale: October 2023

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - Community Justice Scotland
• In collaboration with - members of the Diversion from Prosecution Review Group, including the Scottish Government, third sector, COPFS, Children and Young People's Centre for Justice (CYCJ), Local Authorities, Social Work Scotland and Police Scotland

Further Detail:

To ensure awareness of the roles of each partner involved, and to embed more consistent processes to diversion from prosecution, the Review Group will consider reflecting the following in the updated Guidelines:

• articulating the responsibilities of each partner agency in relation to diversion
• opportunities for joint training and awareness raising
• revising the documentation involved in diversion from prosecution and providing templates where appropriate.

3. Improve the sharing of information and communication between relevant justice organisations at key points of the diversion from prosecution process. This will take account of the 'Joint review of diversion from prosecution' report.

Timescale: April 2024

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - COPFS
• In collaboration with - Police Scotland, Community Justice Scotland, Scottish Government and Local Authorities

Further Detail:

To enhance information sharing and communication, partners will consider:

• the provision of information on the factors which are driving offending behaviours, or health related matters, between Police Scotland and COPFS during initial decision making
• the flow of information at point of referral between COPFS and justice social work, in order to inform assessments
• communication between COPFS and justice social work in complex cases
• the flow of communication from COPFS to justice social work and the person on diversion at decision-making points
• appropriate participation within community justice partnerships.

Priority Action 2:

Improve the identification of underlying needs and the delivery of support following arrest by ensuring the provision of person-centred care within police custody and building upon referral opportunities to services including substance use and mental health services

Deliverables

4. Establish a Working Group that promotes best practice and works to drive an increase in referrals from police custody into support for mental health and wellbeing, addiction and other relevant services. This is with a view to longer term reduction in repeat offending and improved outcomes for individuals.

Timescale: January 2024

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - Police Scotland
• In collaboration with - Scottish Government, Community Justice Scotland, Local Authorities, third sector, National Police Care Network and other relevant community partners

Further Detail:

The group will seek to ensure that a whole person/no wrong door approach is adopted and that it is understood at a national level what services are available for those in police custody, how referrals can be effective and how provision can best be delivered to address individual needs.

The working group will be cognisant of and will respond to potential changes to arrest referral due to changing information sharing requirements.

5. Improve consistency across the country in the access to 24/7 specialist mental health assessments including in custody centres.

Timescale: December 2023

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - NHS Health Boards and Scottish Government
• In collaboration with - Police Scotland, NHS Boards and third sector through the Unscheduled Care Collaborative

Further Detail:

This work is captured by the recent joint inspection of Custody Healthcare and Interventions by Health Improvement Scotland and HMICS. This will help to improve consistency in accessing specialist mental health assessments for those persons in custody who require one. It sits within a wider programme of work, with partners through the Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative, to ensure that everyone with urgent mental health care needs get the right help, in the right place, at the right time.

This is creating national and local routes to ensure people in emotional crisis or distress and those in need of urgent care are assessed and supported, regardless of how they access services. The Scottish Government will publish a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in Summer 2023, with an accompanying delivery plan published in Autumn. The new strategy will allow us to look ahead to make sure we are doing the right things to meet changing mental health needs over the coming years. It will set out a clear vision for future population mental health, wellbeing and care; and our priorities to help us get there.

6. Ensure that the number of custody support intervention champions is maintained or increases, and they all have access to training on Trauma Informed Practice and Motivational Interviewing. This training should subsequently be rolled out to all custody staff.

Timescale: January 2024

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - Police Scotland
• In collaboration with - NHS Boards and third sector

Further Detail:

This approach should encourage arrest referral, and ensure that a person-centred, trauma-informed approach is taken in police custody.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have a shared ambition for a trauma-informed and responsive workforce and services across Scotland, supported by investment in a National Trauma Training Programme, led by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). A trauma-informed approach can support anyone affected by trauma by reducing the risk of causing further harm or re-traumatisation (by offering a different experience of relationships, one in which people are offered safety rather than threat, choice rather than control, collaboration rather than coercion, and trust rather than mistrust).

Police Scotland is reviewing the impact of this training, with a view to rolling it out to all custody staff.

More broadly, work will continue through the National Trauma Training Programme and network of trauma lead officers and trauma champions across local authorities, health boards and community planning partners to support the implementation of trauma-informed systems, organisations and workforces. This will be supported by the forthcoming publication of a new Quality Improvement Framework, developed by the Scottish Government, COSLA, NES and the Improvement Service.

7. Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards 1-5, will be implemented in all local areas, including in justice settings.

Timescale: April 2025

Responsibility:

• Lead partner - Public Health Scotland
• In collaboration with - Scottish Government, NHS Boards, Police Scotland, SPS, Community Justice Scotland, Local Authorities and Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships, third sector and individuals with lived and living experience.

Further Detail:

The MAT Standards are evidence based standards to enable the consistent delivery of safe, accessible, high-quality drug treatment across Scotland. These are relevant to people and families accessing or in need of services, and health and social care staff responsible for delivery of recovery oriented systems of care.

The MAT Standards are being embedded and mainstreamed, including in justice settings, both community and custody.

In June 2022 the former Minister for Drugs Policy wrote a letter of direction to all Territorial Health Boards, Integration Authorities and Local Authorities which directed delivery partners to sign a public delivery plan for implementing the MAT standards. Areas are reporting on progress against their Implementation Plans on either a monthly or quarterly basis.

The timeline for implementation of the standards, is to implement MAT Standards 1-5 in community settings by April 2023 and to have full implementation of Standards 1-10 in community and justice settings by April 2025, and be fully sustained by April 2026.