Question reference: S5W-18343
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 21 August 2018
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 September 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment or evaluation has been made of the Scottish Prison Service's Self-Change Programme since it commenced, and whether it will make this publicly available.
Answer
I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:
Since the introduction of the Self Change Programme (SCP) in 2014, no evaluation has been undertaken.
A small scale study was however conducted on a very small number of participants involved in the pilot phase of the programme. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the introduction of SCP into SPS, and used prison misconduct reports and attitudinal questionnaires to measure the outcomes.
The results showed promising preliminary indications that the programme was being effective in achieving its aims and objectives; those who completed the programme showed a significant reduction in violence-related misconduct reports in prison and significant reductions in overall scores on attitudinal tests.
In terms of a full scale evaluation, SPS is currently in the process of preparing the SCP for a submission to the Scottish Advisory Panel on Offender Rehabilitation (SAPOR) before the end of this year. This is the body that can confer accredited status to the programme. As part of that process the means of evaluating the programme will be established, and timeframes for the completion of an independent evaluation outlined, in accordance with the requirements of SAPOR. SPS would anticipate publishing the outcome of the evaluation on its website when this becomes available.