Justice minister praises Shetland’s community service scheme

Scotland’s justice minister Kenny MacAskill has praised the community service scheme operated by the social work service in Shetland.

Visiting the isles on Thursday to see how offenders have helped the social business COPE and the Shetland Bike Project, he described the set-up as an “excellent example”.

He said: “Successful community service projects such as the one involved with COPE bring real benefits to local people. The work placements at COPE have led to the offenders involved being able to move on to gain full time employment.

“This is an excellent example of not only requiring offenders to make real payback into the community but also giving them the chance to gain skills, make the move into employment and break the cycle of re-offending.

“It is success stories like these in Shetland that show why we are right to invest in a system of immediate and robust community penalties which are a credible alternative to custody.”

Mr MacAskill’s cabinet colleague Jim Mather, minister for energy, enterprise and tourism, was also in Shetland to sign the single outcome agreement with council leaders and officials.

The agreement follows on from the concordat signed between convener Sandy Cluness and John Swinney last year and sets priorities for the provision of services.