Call to ditch crime quango

The agency would attempt to cut crime

Ministers are being urged to ditch proposals for a new national quango aimed at cutting crime and re-offending.

The Scottish Executive is considering forming a national Corrections Agency which would combine the prison service and local social work agencies.

The single body would deliver both custodial and non-custodial sentences with cutting re-offending its main aim.

However, critics say the plan is a recipe for disaster with the public services union Unison insisting the idea is a last-ditch attempt by ministers to appear tough on crime.

Unison also said the plans would lead to the creation of another quango and it has released new survey results which suggest that two-thirds of people in Scotland prefer elected bodies.

Joe Di Paola, Unison's Scottish organiser, said: "This shows the danger of making policy on the hoof.

"The proposal for a Correctional Agency was a last minute attempt to be seen to be 'doing something' on crime. Our members, and indeed local authorities had they been asked, could have told the executive that creating this kind of quango, will not deal with the problems and causes of crime."

Formal consultation

But Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said it was important to look at ways of improving current services aimed at cutting crime.

"A lot of good work has been done both in our prisons and the community over recent years to tackle re-offending, but we must not close off avenues to further improvement," she said.

"Those communities in Scotland which are still blighted by crime will accept nothing less."

Ms Jamieson added: "A formal consultation on this proposal will begin later in the year after we publish a document setting out our ideas. Ideas that will not be drawn up in isolation but after substantial and wide-ranging discussion with the frontline staff who deliver these services."