Community Justice Local Outcome Improvement Plan (CJLOIP) Position Statement
Position Statement – Community Justice Group
Community Justice Local Outcomes Improvement Plan 2021-24
Background
The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (the Act) requires community justice partners to produce a Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan (CJOIP) for each local authority area, outlining how they intend to work together to reduce reoffending. Partners must report annually on progress against locally and nationally determined outcomes. The legislation states that Statutory Partners must review their CJOIP:
- after the publication of a revised national strategy for community justice OR
- after the publication of a revised local outcomes improvement plan in relation to the area under section 7(5) of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
Following the review, partners are required to publish a revised version or publish a statement stating why they do not consider the plan should be revised. When reviewing or revising the CJOIP partners must have regard to the national strategy for community justice, the national outcomes, performance and improvement framework, and its local community planning outcomes improvement plan.
Review of the National Strategy for Community Justice
The Act sets out that Scottish Ministers must review its national strategy for community justice no later than five years after the Strategy is published. Following review of the 2016 Strategy, the Scottish Government published a new National Strategy for Community Justice in June 2022.
Review of the Outcomes Performance and Improvement Framework (OPIF)
The Act also requires that Community Justice Scotland review the OPIF no later than five years after the framework is published. Following review, the Scottish Government concluded that the OPIF needed to be revised and an OPIF revision project was established in 2022. The Scottish Government has confirmed its intention to publish a revised OPIF on 1 April 2023.
East Lothian’s position
The East Lothian Community Justice Local Outcome Improvement Plan (CJLOIP) runs until 2024 and was reviewed in 2022. This review concluded that the majority of actions contained within the CJLOIP were complete and this triggered a review of the Community Justice Partnership and the supporting workstreams. Work on a new CJOIP will begin that is aligned with the new National Strategy for Community Justice and forthcoming OPIF as soon as is practicable following final publication of the key documents by Community Justice Scotland and/or the Scottish Government.