Funding boost for women offenders projects

Almost £640,000 in extra public funding is to be awarded to twelve community projects working to tackle women’s offending in Scotland.

Justice secretary Michael Matheson announced the £639,500 funding boost during a visit to Edinburgh-based Willow Service, which is set to receive £154,000 from the pot to continue its valuable work in the local area.

Mr Matheson said the extra funding is part of the government’s “new and bold approach” to women offenders and would “support them towards more positive futures”.

The announcement comes just over a week after experts arrived in the Scottish capital for an international summit on women in custody.

Mr Matheson said: “We recently welcomed experts on the issue of women in prison to our international summit on female offending to share their experiences and make recommendations on the types of approaches Scotland can take forward.”

The Scottish government provided over £3 million in grant funding during 2013-15 to 16 projects aimed at improving community-based services for women in the criminal justice system, on the recommendation of the Commission on Women Offenders.

They were approached by the Scottish government again this year to find out if they had succeeded in securing local funding to continue their work, and twelve of the projects were awarded further funding.

The justice secretary added: “Projects like these are in a position to make a real difference to the lives of female offenders, which is why we have committed an extra £639,500 to enable them to continue the positive work that they do.

“Scotland already has the second highest female prison population in Northern Europe, doubling between 2002 and 2012. This is completely unacceptable and does not fit with my vision of how a modern and progressive society should deal with female offenders.”