FOI/202500473509 · FOI · not held
Caledonian System data: FOI release
Information requested
How many men, as part of sentencing for a Domestic Abuse offence, or other offence with a Domestic Abuse aggravator, were ordered to work the Caledonian System?
How many of these men completed their sentence with the system? Please break the response down by local authority area, collecting data from 2014 to 2025.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, and I have included a narrative explanation of what details cannot be provided. The two tables contained within this answer come from different sources and are not therefore comparable with one another.
Number of Community Payback Orders (CPO) imposed on males with a programme requirement where the programme was Caledonian.
Local authority area 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 SCOTLAND 261 232 220 260 238 273 624 434 601 591 582 Aberdeen City 40 43 41 42 45 41 41 49 64 60 39 Aberdeenshire 13 9 16 20 20 18 36 35 29 34 17 Angus c 0 0 0 0 0 c 0 0 c 0 Argyll & Bute 0 0 0 0 0 c 0 0 0 0 0 Clackmannanshire 14 11 10 15 8 12 11 13 18 8 14 Dumfries & Galloway 17 15 27 19 12 33 43 34 66 31 34 Dundee City 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 9 9 11 40 East Ayrshire 22 6 9 21 17 28 c 15 32 36 33 East Lothian c 9 9 6 7 7 9 10 16 11 c Edinburgh, City of 49 52 50 43 36 36 46 19 32 38 38 Na h-Eileanan Siar 0 c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Falkirk 29 24 15 22 24 23 26 15 16 49 53 Fife 0 c 9 10 0 9 52 37 41 48 44 Glasgow City 0 0 c 0 c 5 157 68 102 114 93 Highland 0 0 c 0 0 c 22 15 23 25 30 Inverclyde 0 c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Midlothian 13 9 4 8 c 6 4 4 6 8 9 Moray 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 North Ayrshire 27 26 9 36 31 27 27 11 26 26 27 Perth & Kinross c c 0 0 0 0 12 15 11 10 13 Renfrewshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 c c Scottish Borders 10 10 7 12 11 7 8 7 15 15 14 South Ayrshire 8 c 6 3 13 13 28 17 29 30 31 South Lanarkshire 0 0 0 0 0 c 65 51 45 29 34 Stirling 12 8 5 3 7 4 10 7 21 c 7 West Dunbartonshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Source: Justice social work datasets 2013-14 to 2023-24
Notes:
[1] This data does not contain information on the type of crime committed and whether there is a domestic abuse aggravator. [2] This data source does not have any information on whether the Caledonian programme was completed successfully. [3] The data only covers Caledonian programmes which have been issued as part of community payback orders. [c] in the table refers to numbers which are low and are therefore not provided for data confidentiality purposes.
Number of men completed their Programmed work in between 2019 and 2025.
Local authority area 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 SCOTLAIND 43 8'6 11 82 142 205 195 Aberdeen City 7 16 23 30 39 37 Aberdeenshire 0 5 8 11 7 3 City of Edinburgh 9 11 7 6 17 15 Clackmannanshire 0 1 1 5 11 7 Dumfries & Galloway 12 24 21 17 29 18 Dundee City NA 0 6 1 0 3 East Ayrshire 0 8 7 3 4 13 East Lothian 1 0 1 1 0 0 Falkirk 6 4 8 7 11 13 Fife NA 2 29 19 26 26 Glasgow City NA 2 30 15 5 15 Highland NA 0 4 9 11 12 Midlothian 2 0 0 0 3 5 Moray NA NA NA NA N1 A NA North Ayrshire 2 4 8 0 14 6 Perth & Kinross NA 0 6 7 5 3 Scottish Borders 2 4 2 3 7 6 South Ayrshire 0 2 5 2 7 8 South Lanarkshire NA 1 12 7 g 5 Stirling 2 2 4 1 6 4 West Dunbartonshire NA NA NA NA N1 A NA
Source: Community Justice Scotland datasets 2019-20 to 2024-25
Notes:
[1] West Dunbartonshire and Moray have started delivering the programme in 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 respectively. [2] Dundee City, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Perth and Kinross and South Lanarkshire have started delivering the programme in 2019/2020.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. However, you may wish to contact Parole Scotland whose contact details can be found at https://scottishparoleboard.scot who may be able to help you. The reasons why we do not have the information are set out in further detail below.
Reasons for not providing information
The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested
I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. We do not have the information you have asked for because it is not all centrally held by the Scottish Government. What we have provided here is the number of Community Payback Order (CPO) imposed on males with a programme requirement where the programme was Caledonian. This is provided for the full years held, so the last full year is 2023-24. The information on where Caledonian attendance was required as part of a condition of a release licence, parole or non-parole, is not held by the Scottish Government, but may be held by Parole Scotland.
We are unable to provide you with all the information requested in relation to Programme completion. The reasons for that area set out below. There is a data gap in the completion figures between 2014-2019. A 2016 evaluation highlighted issues in data collection. In response a new database was developed and was officially launched in 2019. Consequently, there is a gap in consistent data collection, exacerbated by the fact that different areas began using the new system at different times. Therefore, the completion figures are presented from 2019-20 onwards as there is slightly higher confidence in that data.
However, data was then significantly impacted in response to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020/21). While one-to-one work generally continued, many individuals faced challenges in completing the programme, which may have impacted completion rates. Therefore the available completions data have to be treated with extreme caution as to accuracy and the Scottish Government do not have a high level of confidence overall in relation to this data set.
Improvement actions are underway to automate data collection through the LS/CMI system, and it is expected those changes will be rolled out later this year. All data need to be considered in the context of roll out taking place over the period. In 2019, the programme expanded further, with six additional areas beginning delivery. Since the Caledonian Programme spans two years, there will also be a lag between order imposed and completion data. The Scottish Government are reliant on returns from local areas in compiling this data.
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Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
Reasons for not providing information The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
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