"Scandalous" scale of absence among community service in Scotland

It's been revealed that there were more than 100,000 absences from people completing community payback orders in Scotland over the last five years.

Of the 104,862 in total, 37,582 were deemed to be unacceptable.

The data, requested through a freedom of information request (FOI) from the Scottish Conservatives, also only comes from 15 of the 32 local authorities in the country, meaning the true number is likely to be far higher.

All other councils said they didn't record the figures, and one failed to respond.

Glasgow had the highest level of absentees, with more than 20 thousand.

That's followed by Fife on 17k plus, Edinburgh with more than 13 thousand and North Lanarkshire and North Ayrshire both also rising above the 10k figure.

The Tories have called it "scandalous".

Shadow justice secretary Jamie Greene says the figures are a further “insult” to victims of crime by an SNP Government which has already written off hundreds of thousands of hours of community sentencing work.

He has urged new SNP justice secretary Angela Constance to finally put an end to what the party have called "the SNP’s soft-touch approach" and to put victims first and ensure that cash-strapped local authorities have every resource they need to crack down on these absences.

Jamie Greene MSP, said: “These figures are scandalous and unacceptable – and yet they do not even tell half the story when it comes to absences among those meant to be carrying out community sentences.

“It is yet another example of the SNP’s soft-touch justice approach in action. Not only have SNP ministers been content to write off hundreds of thousands of hours of payback orders, now an eye-watering level of absenteeism among criminals has been exposed.

“It makes a mockery of the justice system when criminals are effectively being given the green light to be absent from community sentences, which, in many cases, are considered lenient in the first place.

“These absences are an insult to victims. They expect this work to be carried out, yet in so many cases offenders are not bothering to turn up at all.

“Community sentencing is failing victims at every turn on the SNP’s watch. The new SNP justice secretary must finally put victims first, as well as ensuring our cash-strapped councils are given every resource they need to tackle absenteeism.

“Questions must also be asked as to why half of Scotland’s local authorities are not recording this data when government guidance clearly states they should be. Their failure to do so means that the true number of absences will be significantly higher.”

We've asked the Scottish Government to comment.

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