I am pleased to open this debate on remand on behalf of the Justice Committee and to talk about our inquiry report. When a person first appears in court, a decision is taken as to whether they can be released on bail or whether they require to be remanded and held safely and securely until their trial. Remand is, therefore, a central part of our justice system, but concerns about how it is operating have been expressed for many years and remain today. That is why the committee decided to look at the issue as a priority.
We started in January of this year with a round-table evidence session on the use of remand in Scotland. More than 40 written submissions were received, with six meetings held in the spring. During that time, the committee heard from a range of witnesses representing all aspects of the justice system and the Scottish Prison Service, as well as from people involved in advocacy and support for prisoners and their families. The committee also visited Circle Supporting Families in Scotland—a charity that supports families, including those who are affected by imprisonment—to hear more about its work with remand prisoners and their families.
On the committee’s behalf, I thank all who took part in our evidence sessions and who took the time to speak to us and share stories about their experiences of being on remand. Last but by no means least, I thank the committee’s clerks and members for all their work to compile the inquiry report.
The committee heard and understands that judges do not refuse bail without good reason. The number of people who are held on remand varies year on year, but the former chief inspector of prisons said in his final annual report, which was published in September, that he was “still concerned” about the numbers who are held on remand.
According to official figures from the Scottish Prison Service, 1,361 people were held on remand in 2017-18, out of a total prison population of 7,644. That compares with about 1,000 people being held on remand, out of a prison population of 6,000 or so, back in 1997-98, before the Parliament came into being. Currently, there are about 90 women on remand out of 370 women prisoners, which compares with 50 out of 200 or so way back in 2000-01.
Today’s Scotsman quotes the new chief inspector of prisons as saying that
“Remand should be an absolute last resort”
and that
“the prison population is creeping up due to the increase in remand prisoners.”
She also says that she has particular concerns about women prisoners who are held on remand.
We believe that, to make any difference in the numbers, the reasons why judges decide to remand people must be better understood. Information is not recorded consistently or in a way that allows more meaningful analysis of the reasons why remand is being used. It is not possible, for example, to determine whether remand numbers appear artificially high because they include the same individual being remanded several times, as opposed to different individuals being remanded.
The committee therefore recommends that the Scottish Government should work with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to look at options for capturing data systematically. That could include the use of a pro forma on the reasons for granting or refusing bail. We ask the minister to comment this afternoon on the Scottish Government’s willingness to implement that recommendation so that we can understand better why people are being remanded in custody.
The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 sets out the rules that the court must follow when making decisions on bail. They include consideration of any substantial risk that the person might not appear in court, might commit a further offence or might interfere with witnesses.
David Strang, the former chief inspector of prisons, has written:
“In some cases it appears that remand is used as a heavy-handed way to ensure that the accused attends court for their trial.”
It is clear that failure to appear in court often has severe consequences for an individual, but the committee considers that further steps could be taken to improve how the courts keep in touch with those who are required to attend hearings.
The committee notes that text messages are already used to remind witnesses to attend court, and it considers that a similar system could be piloted for those who are accused, many of whom are categorised as having chaotic lives, to see whether that reduced the use of remand because of a risk of failure to attend. That would be a cost-effective way to address the problem, and the committee welcomes the Scottish Government’s response that it has sought the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s views on whether that is possible. We look forward to the promised updates.
On the experience of remand prisoners, various witnesses told us that many of those individuals can be categorised as having chaotic lives and that the relatively short period spent on remand—the average period of remand is just over three weeks—can cause a disproportionately serious long-term disruption to housing, benefits, employment, relationships and health.
The committee was also told that time spent on remand is largely unproductive, with few opportunities to engage in rehabilitative services available to remand prisoners. Members were told that there were a number of reasons for that. They include the short time that such prisoners might spend on remand and uncertainty about a release date; the sheer churn of remand prisoners through the prison system; and the fact that remand prisoners were sometimes reluctant to engage with services or other opportunities in prison, because they considered that doing so might be taken as an admission of guilt. Furthermore, the statutory obligations that require services to be provided to longer-term convicted prisoners can limit the resources available for remand prisoners.
The committee recognises the difficulties, but considers that more can be done to ensure that remand prisoners’ needs are assessed and that they are offered the support and the opportunity to engage in purposeful activity. The committee has therefore included that issue in its budget scrutiny.
During the inquiry, the committee heard concerns about the negative effect of remand on an individual’s physical and mental health. We heard about the barriers that those prisoners may face when merely trying to obtain their medication or continue with the services that they had accessed in the community. Reasons given for those problems include community health records not following prisoners into custody, which can result in delays to or breaks in treatment; and medication routinely being removed from prisoners on their entry into prison. The committee asks the Scottish Government and the national health service to respond to those concerns and to put procedures in place to address the problems.
The committee also heard that communication between local health boards and the SPS varies and is, in effect, a postcode lottery. The committee welcomes the indication that steps are being taken to address barriers to information sharing, and asks the Scottish Government to provide full details of and timescales for the work that is to be undertaken.
In 2008, a report by the Scottish Prisons Commission, chaired by Henry McLeish, stated that options should include establishing community-based bail accommodation to tackle the issue of people of no abode being refused of bail. Ten years later, the Justice Committee heard that that issue has not been resolved. For example, Professor Hutton undertook a small-scale study of 60 cases in a sheriff court in 2016. He found that
“In 5 cases a single reason was given for remand. 3 of these were no fixed abode”.
In 2012, the commission on women offenders, chaired by Dame Elish Angiolini, found that 70 per cent of women who are remanded in custody do not ultimately receive a custodial sentence. The commission recommended that bail supervision should be available across the country, with mentoring, supported accommodation and access to community justice centres for women; that the Scottish Government should further examine the potential of electronic monitoring as a condition of bail; and that there should be improved awareness of alternatives to remand among those dealing with alleged offenders. At the time, the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation accepted all three recommendations. That was six years ago; the committee hopes that its inquiry will now make those recommendations a reality.
The committee hopes that, despite the varied and complex factors affecting the level of remand in Scotland, its inquiry findings and recommendations will not be ignored but will instead help to make positive changes and improvements to how remand works in Scotland.
14:55