Community Sentence Breach: Loss of State Benefits, Scotland (Hansard, 10 July 2000)

§ Baroness Hollis of Heigham

As introduced into the House of Lords on 5 April 2000, Part III of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Bill provided, in Scotland, for the court to notify the Secretary of State (in practice the Benefits Agency) of the commencement of breach proceedings. Proceedings are commenced when the court issues a warrant to arrest the offender or requires him to appear before it.

The ultimate decision to return an offender to court for breach proceedings in Scotland is taken by the Sheriff or District Court (on which JPs sit). The court makes its decision on the basis of information about that breach, which is brought to the court's attention by a social worker or probation officer in whose area the offender resides.

The court concerned may be either the Sheriff or a District Court. However in practice the majority of community disposals made and any subsequent breach proceedings conducted occur in the Sheriff Courts.

In detail, the respective roles are as follows:

(a) The Procurator Fiscal. When an offender appears before the court for breach proceedings, it is customary for the Procurator Fiscal to be present also. This is because of his involvement in the original criminal proceedings which led to the imposition of the community order, and because, if the offender disputes that he has breached the order, it will be the Procurator Fiscal (and not the social worker or probation officer) who will have to lead evidence to satisfy the court that there has been a breach. Because of this, it may happen that a local authority social work department asks the Procurator Fiscal to review the evidence before the matter is passed to the court for its decision as to whether to institute breach proceedings.
(b) Local authority social work departments appoint a supervising officer, who is responsible for ensuring the offender's compliance with the terms of the community order in accordance with national standards and objectives. Where he considers that the offender has breached the order, the supervising officer submits a report to the court.
(c) Justices of the peace sit in the District Courts in Scotland. They carry out functions in these courts in respect of breaches of community disposals similar to sheriffs in the Sheriff Courts. The District Courts are involved in the decision to commence breach proceedings, and in hearing breach proceedings, only where the original order was made in a District Court in the first instance.

Part III of the Bill, as amended at Report stage in the Lords on 27 June 2000, provides for the loss of benefit to occur only after the Sheriff or District Court has determined that an offender has breached his community order. The roles of the various parties in taking breach action are the same.