A ‘criminal’ waste of £40m say angry MSPs

Giving evidence to MSPs, the Auditor General for Scotland, Robert Black, admitted the public must “wonder what is happening” to create such inefficiency.

Hugh Henry MSP said: “It’s clear that huge amounts of money are being spent – nearly £1 billion a year – and outcomes’ success is questionable.”

In particular, Audit Scotland highlighted a failure to drive down reoffending as a barrier to reducing the £857m bill – which does not include the majority of police costs – for the criminal justice system in 2009-10.

Mr Black said: “You do stand back, as a citizen of Scotland, and wonder what is happening in the system. And it is very difficult to tell because it’s complex and so many agencies are involved.”

He added: “Reoffending is a continuing problem. It is a sad statistic that two-thirds of people new to prison in 2009-10 had five or more previous convictions.

“There was £81m spent by criminal justice bodies directly on services to reduce reoffending – less than 10 per cent of spend. Agencies are definitely trying to tackle this but it’s a very difficult and pervasive issue.”

Audit Scotland’s estimate of £40m inefficiency in the criminal justice system does not take the cost of failing to tackle reoffending into account. In 2009-10 the average cost of a prisoner place for a year was £31,703.

Delays to cases when witnesses fail to appear, or professionals are not fully prepared, cost about £10m, with late decisions not to proceed adding up to £30m.

Mr Henry, the committee’s convener, said it was a “staggering amount of waste”.

“Do you have any idea of what the key issues are in terms of failure to address reoffending or what can be done to make progress?” he asked.

Mr Black admitted a “lack of consistent performance information makes it difficult to evaluate success” of various initiatives across Scotland aimed at tackling reoffending.

The Audit Scotland report was a one-off and so the £857m bill could not be compared with previous years’ figures, although officials estimate costs have risen consistently in line with other public bodies.

Tory leadership contender Murdo Fraser, who is also deputy convener, said: “We are continually being told we have a 30-year record low in terms of crime rates.

“One would therefore logically assume the cost of the criminal justice system would reduce – that does not appear to be the case.”

Prosecutors said it is sometimes in the public interest to halt court proceedings, even if this leads to greater costs. A Crown Office spokesman said: “There are several scenarios that cause a decision not to proceed further to be made.

“We cannot ignore new evidence or the effect on a case of a witness changing their statement or proceed if the accused or a key witness fails to appear.”

Ian Bryce, of the Law Society Scotland, added: “Criminal defence lawyers have enormous interest in making sure the system is streamlined and efficient.

“We have got the knowledge and experience to identify where those efficiencies could be made.”

The Scottish Court Service warned some savings are not attainable.

Eleanor Emberson, chief executive of SCS, said: “From the estimates identified within the Audit Scotland report, we need to separate the genuine potential savings from those costs that are unavoidable in a fair system of criminal justice.”

Figures out last month showed the number of people reconvicted within a two-year period has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade.

However, at 42.4 per cent, the latest figure was just 0.2 per cent lower than it had been ten years earlier.

Finance secretary John Swinney announced a £7.5m “change fund” to tackle reoffending in his spending review yesterday. A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The fund will help make our communities safer by expanding the coverage and impact of those interventions with a proven track record.”