MSPS’ plea for extra spending on justice ahead of budget
Ministers are being urged to consider how additional cash for "radical" measures could be used to tackle longstanding issues in Scotland's justice system.
Mspsonholyrood'scriminal Justice Committee have called on the Scottish Government to "exploreadditionalfundingthat would be more radical".
This, they say, would be more "likely to break the cycle of long court delays, overcrowded prisons and a high remand population".
Spending on the justice sector totalled just over £3 billion in the 2021-22 budget, with MSPS saying this was "one of the smaller areas of spend" compared to over £16.6bn for health and sport and almost £10b n for communities and local government.
In a report prepared ahead of the draft Scottish Budget on December 9, the committee said "further sustained
increases in capital budgets" were needed for both Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to allow them to modernise their buildings and vehicles and IT.
They also called for a "sustained, above inflation injection of funds into the prison budget", citing problems such as the high prison population, drug misuse in jails, the large number of untried prisoners and the presence of serious and organised crime groups.
The committee also said "targeted investments now" on projects such as recovery cafes and residential rehabilitation projects could help "deliver savings in the longer term".
Speaking about the problems across the sector, the MSPS stated: "It is our view that the current budget challenges are a symptom of the wider problems in the justice sector that have not been significantly addressed over many years.
"Because these major challenges have not been tackled, we are now facing the need for even greater investment.
"We recognise that there has been progress on tackling certain issues in the justice sector over recent years, but more must be done to make rapid progress and resolve th e systemic problems in the sector, many of which have been with us for a number of years ."
Speaking as the report was published, committee convener Audrey Nicoll said: "We believe that there is a case for further spending to support the justice system to meet the many challenges it is facing."