Justice minister accused of 'dereliction of duty' over delay to law change

Scotland's justice minister has been accused of a "dereliction of duty" after failing to implement changes to rules around spent convictions, eight months since legislation was passed at Holyrood.

Humza Yousaf has been accused of a "dereliction of duty" around changing spent convictions regulations.

Scotland’s justice minister has been accused of a “dereliction of duty” after failing to implement changes to rules around spent convictions, despite the legislation being passed by MSPs eight months ago.

The Scottish Parliament passed the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act last June, and it received Royal Assent in July, but while many of its provisions have already been brought into force, the changes to reduce the length of time a criminal conviction needs to be disclosed to employers have not been enacted.

Today the issue was raised with Humza Yousaf in Holyrood by Labour MSP James Kelly, who revealed that a constituent, who had paid a £400 fine in 2015 after being charged under the controversial - and now repealed - Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, was still unable to get work as the conviction was still being disclosed to employers.

The reduction in time for convictions to be “spent”, will bring Scotland into line with England and Wales where the time periods were cut in 2014. People who receive a fine will only have the conviction on record for 12 months rather than five years, while those who receive community orders will also see the “disclosure time” reduced to just a year. For those with sentences of four years or longer, they will continue to have to disclose the conviction.

Mr Kelly said the fact that the government had not commenced the changes, and there was no date to do so, was “a matter of real concern”.

He added: “A case has been drawn to my attention of an individual who has been convicted and fined £400 in December 2015. Under the new law that conviction would have been spent in 12 months and the record withdrawn from disclosure. However the individual had a job offer withdrawn last month because the record was still on their disclosure. This is unacceptable.

“Why has there been a dereliction of duty in this area? What’s the point of parliament passing laws when months down the line there’s no movement to implement this legislation?”

Mr Yousaf said the delay lay with Disclosure Scotland’s IT systems. “The intention of this government is to have a fairer system of disclosure, that's why we brought forward the bill.

"I take exception to the way he's framed the question - it's not about dereliction of duty but why we sometimes take time to commence provisions is because partners take some time to be ready. With Disclosure Scotland there is work that needs to be done to update its IT system. It’s progressing well and we’re confident it will be completed within the next few months.”

Mr Yousaf said the Act had covered four distinct topics, "electronic monitoring, disclosure, the parole board and the control of release from prison including home detention and curfew". He said three commencement regulations had been brought into in relation to home detention, curfews and prisons, as well as the new offence of remaining unlawfully at large."

He added: "In December commencement regulations brought into force a number of provisions in relation to disclosure ahead of wider commencement of the substantial provisions later this year.

"If he's [Mr Kelly] ever been involved in updating IT systems it does take time. We're working on the basis that they will be up and running within the next few months - there's no dithering this is pragmatic things that have to be worked through, but the policy intention is sound, there's no reason for us to delay.

"It would be a dereliction of duty if I brought them [provisions] forward and Disclosure Scotland was not ready to implement them."