Justice Social Work Statistics In Scotland: 2022-23

Annex C Consultation and accreditation

A working group involving data providers and other internal/external stakeholders was formed in early 2010 as part of a Scottish Government review of justice social work statistics. The group met during 2010 and 2011 and agreed to collect unit level data for community payback and drug treatment and testing orders from 2012-13 onwards. The data collected has helped to provide better information on the process and outcome of these orders.

The statistics collected on justice social work have a wide range of uses. They contribute to policy development, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of policy implementation. Keeping in regular contact with local authorities is also advantageous as this enables the Scottish Government to ensure it is kept up to date on matters which affect implementation and delivery. Meetings of the Local Authority Social Work Statistics: Justice (LASWS:J) group are generally held on an annual basis to discuss relevant data collection and other matters.

Some examples of how these data are being used include:

• determining annual funding allocations for local authorities,
• supporting local authority workload planning exercises, performance management and the allocation of staff resources,
• assessing the uptake of specific preferred options in justice social work reports,
• benchmarking demand on local authority service to compare how different authorities operate.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) designated the statistics in this publication as National Statistics. Under the provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, UKSA had a statutory responsibility to conduct periodic assessments. This was to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. UKSA confirmed the National Statistics designation of justice social work statistics in assessment report 128 on the UK Statistics Authority website. The UKSA evolved into the Office for Statistical Regulation (OSR) in November 2016. The term ‘National Statistics’ has recently been retitled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’.

A data user review of justice social work statistics was conducted in 2023. This was done with the aim of engaging with a wide range of users and potential users of the data. A summary of the information obtained from this review has been published on the Scottish Government website and includes six main recommendations (listed in earlier section 2) which will enable us to adapt our outputs to suit user needs.

An Accredited Official Statistics publication For Scotland

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as Accredited Official Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Designation can be interpreted to mean that the statistics: meet identified user needs; are produced, managed and disseminated to high standards; and are explained well.

Correspondence and enquiries

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Alan Fleming,

Justice Analytical Services,

email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician, Telephone: (0131) 244 0442,

email: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

How to access background or source data

The data collected for this statistical publication:

• are available in more detail through Scotland's official statistics website.
• are available via an alternative route, namely the justice social work datasets on the Scottish Government website.
• may be made available on request, subject to consideration of legal and ethical factors. Please contact Justice_Analysts@gov.scot for further information.

Complaints and suggestions

If you are not satisfied with our service or have any comments or suggestions, please write to the Chief Statistician, GR, St Andrews House, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG, Telephone: (0131) 244 0302, email statistics.enquiries@gov.scot.

If you would like to be consulted about statistical collections or receive notification of publications, please register your interest at the Scotstat guidance page.

Details of forthcoming publications can be found on the Scottish Government website.

ISBN 978-1-83521-862-4 (web only)

Crown Copyright

You may use or re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. See the open Government Licence website.

Produced for The Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA PPDAS1404454 (01/24)