Tag: pre-budget scrutiny

Criminal Justice Committee say the justice sector needs £400 million more

The justice sector is facing serious and complex challenges and without increased funding of £400 million (13%) in next year’s budget, the sector faces unacceptable cuts to services, say the Criminal Justice Committee.

The Committee has been gathering evidence as part of their pre-budget scrutiny 26/27. While acknowledging the budget pressures on the Scottish Government, the Committee say the evidence it has received is gravely concerning and that the justice sector has now reached a critical limit in its ability to deliver services without additional investment.

The evidence gathered shows a sector under ever-increasing pressure with new and emerging threats such as cybersecurity and climate change adding to the stress on resources. The Committee is calling for dedicated funding to ensure justice bodies can tackle rising cyber threats and climate-driven challenges.

In particular, the Committee want to see investment in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, who are on the front line of responding to climate change incidents.

Other budget pressures highlighted in the report include the additional costs in planning, and implementing new legislation enacted by the Parliament.

The Committee say there is an urgent need for the Scottish Government to move towards multi-year funding settlements for all justice sector bodies in Scotland to allow for longer term planning and more flexibility.

The Committee recommend that the Scottish Government works with the UK Government to see if a solution can be found which would allow both the Scottish Police Authority/Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service flexibility to manage their budgets through the use of a financial reserve, as they did before they became single nationwide services.

Furthermore, the Committee want the Scottish Government to look into the possibility of allowing the police and fire services to be given borrowing capacity, to give them more flexibility and an ability to better respond to urgent critical challenges.

Criminal Justice Committee Convener, Audrey Nicoll MSP, said: “The scenario facing the justice sector is gravely concerning and without additional funding of £400 million it will face unacceptable cuts to frontline services.

“Our Committee acknowledge that there are no easy answers when it comes to the budget pressures the Government is facing. However, despite the best efforts of the justice sector to make efficiency savings over the last 10-15 years, it is clear that a crucial limit has now been reached in terms of funding and resources.

“Put simply, a flat cash settlement next year is not sufficient, and would lead to cuts and reductions to services which our Committee cannot accept.”

The Convener added: “We want to see additional funding of £400 million and multi-year funding settlements to help the sector in the short and long term.

“We also encourage the Scottish Government to look into giving the police and fire services the ability to borrow money and create financial reserves in order to give them more flexibility to deal with ongoing and urgent financial pressures.

“The Committee thanks witnesses from across the sector who have spoken so candidly on the pressures they face and the urgent need for increased funding.”

Holyrood committee: Very difficult to assess the effectiveness of mental health spending in Scotland’s NHS

HOLYROOD’s Health Social Care and Sport Committee has said it is disappointed by an ongoing lack of transparency in data gathering and analysis, which makes it very difficult to assess the effectiveness, or otherwise, of the Scottish Government’s approach to mental health spending.

The findings are part of the Committee’s Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2026-27, which this year focused on mental health spending. Spending on mental health services now stands at around £1.5 billion and has risen in recent years.

The Committee acknowledge there is general support for the priorities set out in the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and accompanying Delivery Plan, but regrets that it remains very difficult to identify links between those priorities and how mental health budgets are spent.

It calls on the Scottish Government to provide additional data to illustrate how and to what extent mental health budgets can be linked back to the priorities identified.

The Committee is calling on the Scottish Government to provide data on actual spend on mental health services to allow for better evaluation and to help inform spending decisions.

While acknowledging the current landscape is complicated, even more so as a result of the integration of health and social care, the Committee say the Government must do more to provide detailed analysis of current spending to inform current and future policy.

Clare Haughey MSP, Convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, said: “Our pre-budget scrutiny this year has been focused on the Scottish Government’s spending on mental health but what we have found is that issues of transparency, data availability and analysis has limited our ability to effectively scrutinise policy and funding.

“More importantly, this limits the Government’s ability to understand the effectiveness of funding for mental health services and where spending could be better targeted to improve outcomes.

“We’re calling for more transparency, and better data and analysis to improve evaluation and to better inform spending priorities.

“Better data capture and analysis could also help inform preventative approaches to mental health funding and highlight areas where ring-fenced funding could be effective. We look forward to the Scottish Government responding to our report.”

The reported negative impact of a lack of long or even medium-term certainty around budgets is also highlighted and the Committee is seeking reassurance from the Scottish Government that the Spending Review can provide a degree of long-term certainty for services and the third sector.

Health and social care is the largest portfolio area in the Scottish Government’s budget, accounting for over £21 billion of spend, equivalent to around a third of the entire Scottish budget. Within this total, spending on mental health services now stands at around £1.5 billion and has risen in recent years.

Reform of criminal justice sector too slow amid growing financial pressures, say Holyrood Committee

The wholesale reform of the criminal justice sector required to tackle increasing financial pressures has been too slow, say the Criminal Justice Committee.

The findings are part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s budget for 2025/26.

The Committee say organisations across the sector have said they are looking for increases in their resource funding and significant investments in capital budgets for 2025/26 but there is ‘a stark gap’ between what these organisations say they need for 2025/26 and what they may be given.

The Committee say that the wholesale reform of the sector which is required can only be achieved by adopting a new strategy, moving away from short term fixes of a few years or a single parliamentary term. It recommends that the Scottish Government explores moving to a system of multi-year funding cycles to help aid this reform.

Whilst a range of current reform work is welcomed, such as the pilot of the Summary Case Management system, there are other areas where progress on reform has been too slow.

The Committee again highlight the inefficiencies and wasted cost of citing police officers to attend courts, only for them not be called, and the time that the officers spend on calls with vulnerable people experiencing poor mental health due to a lack of wider support services.

The Committee welcome in-year investments by the Scottish Government in various parts of the criminal justice system, but call for increased transparency about these payments to ensure adequate scrutiny.

Issues around underestimating the costs of implementing new legislation impacting the sector are also highlighted in the report. The Committee call for financial memorandums to be as accurate as possible and say proposed legislation must be accompanied by appropriate resources.

The Criminal Justice Committee Convener, Audrey Nicoll MSP, said: “Right across the sector we are seeing increasing cost pressures, and it’s clear there is a stark gap between what these organisations say they need for 2025/26 and what they may be given.

“Last year we emphasised the need for change in how the Scottish Government fund and support the justice sector and that the status quo could not continue. However, progress still needs to be made to implement the wholesale reform required, which takes the long-term view.

“The evidence we have gathered has made clear that multi-year funding could be hugely beneficial for the sector, help them manage resources and plan for the future, and we’re calling for the Scottish Government to explore this route further.”

‘Stark and Deeply Concerning’: MSPs say more funding must be found for the justice sector

The Scottish Government must ensure more funding is provided for the justice sector in this year’s budget otherwise the sector could face severe cuts to services and staff numbers, say the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee.

The Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny was primarily focused on the proposed flat-cash settlement for the justice sector set out in the Scottish Government’s Resource Spending Review framework (RSR).

Independent research by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) suggested that if current inflationary pressures persist, this settlement would represent a significant reduction in spending across the justice sector, with resource spending falling in real terms by £102 million, or 3.6%.

The Committee’s report highlights extensive evidence gathered from across the sector outlining deeply concerning scenarios of depleted services and cuts to staff numbers, should the figures outlined in the RSR come to fruition.

The Committee say budgets for capital investment in the emergency services, prisons and courts have invariably been less than requested in recent years and that worryingly, the pressures on public spending and the high rate of inflation, mean budgets for day-to-day running costs are at risk too.

Maintaining current staffing levels in our police and fire services, upgrading the prison estate or investing in efforts to improve the prosecution of sex offences could all be under threat if no further funding is provided.

Criminal Justice Committee Convener, Audrey Nicoll MSP, said: “As a Committee we recognise the huge financial pressure facing government budgets, however the evidence we have taken during this year’s pre-budget scrutiny is stark and deeply concerning.

“We have heard from across the criminal justice sector of potentially severe cuts to services and hefty reductions in police and fire service staff numbers if these funding cuts were to come to fruition,

“Although we welcome the commitment from the Justice Secretary that there will be no cuts to police staff numbers, we want to see this recognised through a suitable budget settlement.

“We understand the difficult decisions facing the Scottish Government in this year’s budget but it is essential that criminal justice services receive appropriate funding and a greater settlement than that proposed in the Resource Spending Review, and that any extra resources do more than simply get swallowed up by increased pay awards.

“Otherwise, there is a substantial risk of services in the justice system being downgraded to unacceptable levels and drastic cuts to staff numbers.”

Read the report