Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Contents
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Introduction Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
This profile is part of a series of industry sector profiles for Scotland produced by the Alliance of Sector Skills
Councils (Scotland).
The Alliance is an organisation comprising all 25 licensed UK
Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), the employer-driven organisations that together articulate the voice of the employers of around
90% of the UK’s workforce on skills issues. Its core purpose is to:
• Act as the collective voice of the SSCs;
• Promote understanding of the role of SSCs within the skills system across England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland;
• Co-ordinate policy positions and strategic work on skills with stakeholders across the four home nations; and
• Help build the performance capability of the SSCs to ensure they continue to work effectively on the employer-driven skills agenda.
The principal data source is the Scottish Employers Skill
Survey 2008, which is a survey undertaken by Futureskills
Scotland on a biennial basis. More information about this survey, and the full results, can be found in “Skills in Scotland
2008”. This report is available on the Scottish Government website (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/labourmarket/national-context/employers-views). Other data in this profile has been taken from official sources; all sources are footnoted.
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Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Summary of findings/Definition of the industry
The Justice sector is characterised by:
• A relatively low proportion of small workplaces in comparison with other sectors;
• More people employed in managerial, professional and associate professional roles.
The Justice sector is defined as covering the following
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2003) codes:
SIC Code Description
7523
7524
Justice and judicial activities
Public security, law and order activities
Over the period March 2003 to March 2008, the rate of growth in relation to both numbers of workplaces and numbers in employment was much higher than the average for all industries in Scotland.
By comparison with the average across all industries in
Scotland, Justice sector workplaces are characterised by:
• A lower proportion of female employees
(42% compared with 51%); and
• A lower proportion of part-time jobs
(10% compared with 32%).
The age profile of people in employment in the Justice sector differs from that in all industries in Scotland in that there is:
• A higher proportion of people aged 25-44 working in the sector; and
• A lower proportion of people aged 16-24.
In terms of recruitment, measured as a percentage of numbers employed, the Justice sector is characterised by a lower proportion of:
• Vacancies as a proportion of employment;
• Hard-to-fill vacancies as a proportion of employment;
• Skill shortage vacancies as a proportion of employment.
In terms of workforce development, Justice sector employers:
• Report lower levels of staff proficiency;
• Are more likely to have provided off-the-job training than other Scottish employers.
In relation to human resource management, Justice sector employers are more likely to use:
• Part-time and temporary or contract staff;
• The use of incentive related pay; and
• Quality Circles
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Sector characteristics Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
1 There are around 520 Justice sector workplaces in Scotland
2 accounting for about 0.3% of all workplaces in Scotland.
Including those self-employed 1 there are about 30,400 people in employment in the sector, of which nearly all are employees. Numbers in employment in the Justice sector account for about 1.3% of all Scottish jobs.
2
Over the period March 2003 to March 2008, numbers of Justice sector workplaces increased by about 49% and numbers in employment in the sector increased by about
32%.
3 The rate of growth in relation to both numbers of workplaces and numbers in employment was significantly higher than the average for all industries in Scotland.
Chart 1 Size of workplaces; Skills for Justice and all industries
Source: Inter-Departmental Business Register, March 2008
70%
60%
50%
40%
63%
30%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0-4
17% 17%
15%
10%
19%
5-9 10-19
6%
20-49
8% 2% 7% 1%
3.8%
0.5%
50-99 100-249 250+
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Table 1 Employment, employees and establishments
Source: Inter-Departmental Business Register, March 2008, March 2003
Number of sector workplaces
Numbers in employment
Numbers of employees
30,439 30,435 Numbers in 2008
– Skills for Justice
Skills for Justice as a proportion of all industries
% change between
2003 and 2008
– Skills for Justice
% change between
2003 and 2008
– All industries
520
0.3%
49%
7%
1.3%
32%
9%
1.3%
32%
10%
In relation to the size of workplaces, the Justice sector has a relatively very low proportion of very small workplaces, with 30% employing less than five employees, compared with 63% of all workplaces in Scotland.
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Skills for Justice
All industries
4 By comparison with the average across all industries in
Scotland, Justice sector workplaces are characterised by:
• A lower proportion of female employees
(42% compared with 51%); and
• A lower proportion of part-time jobs
(10% compared with 32%).
Table 2 Gender and part-time profile; Employees within
Skills for Justice and the average for all industries
Source: Annual Business Inquiry 2007
Male
Part-time employees
– Skills for Justice
Part-time employees
– All industries
All employees
– Skills for Justice
All employees
– All industries
1.5%
7.5%
58.2%
49.0%
Female
9.0%
24.3%
41.8%
51.0%
Total
10.5%
31.8%
100%
100%
5 The Justice sector has a different pattern of jobs from the rest of the economy. There are higher proportions of managers, professional and associate professional staff, together accounting for nearly four out of every five
Justice sector employees. This compares with about 41% of employees across all industries in Scotland.
1 As long as they are VAT registered – those that are below the VAT threshold are excluded from the data
2 Inter-Departmental Business Register, March 2008
3 Inter-Departmental Business Register, March 2008 and March 2003
4 Inter-Departmental Business Register, March 2008
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Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Sector characteristics
Chart 2 Distribution of employees by occupation
Source: Annual Population Survey 2007
Managers and
Senior Officials
16%
13%
23%
Professional occupations
13%
Associate Professional and Technical
Administrative and Secretarial
Skilled trades occupations
Personal service occupations
Sales and Customer
Service occupations
Process plant and
Machine Operatives
Elementary occupations
40%
11%
11%
15%
1%
11%
2%
9%
1%
8%
1%
7%
6%
12%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Skills for Justice
All industries
6 The age profile of people in employment in the Justice sector differs from that in all industries in Scotland in that there is:
• A higher proportion of people aged 25-44 working in the sector (60% of people employed in the Justice sector compared to 46% in all industries); and
• A lower proportion of people aged 16-24 (5% of people employed in the Justice sector compared to 13% in all industries).
The age profile of all people in employment in the Justice sector is shown in Chart 3.
Chart 3 Age profile of people in employment
Source: Annual Population Survey 2007
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
5%
15%
16-24
60%
46%
25-44
35%
39%
45+
Skills for Justice
All industries
7 The average gross weekly full-time wage for employees in Scotland in 2008 was £440.
5 Figures for all employees in the Justice sector in Scotland point to a much higher rate of pay, at £640.50.
8 Overall, 61% of all employers anticipated new or ongoing challenges over the next 12 months, a somewhat higher proportion than the 54% reported by the Justice sector.
9 It is important to set employers’ responses to skills-related questions in a wider context. Employers were asked to identify the main challenges they anticipated facing over the next 12 months. It is apparent that the Justice sector employers do not anticipate the same degree of challenge over the next 12 months when compared with employers across all industries in Scotland.
Table 3 Main challenges anticipated by employers over the next 12 months
Source: SESS 2008
Skills for Justice
All industries
Cash flow
Increasing competition from within Scotland
Diversifying/expanding business activities
Securing funding from external sources
1%
0%
0%
0%
19%
5%
5%
5%
The figures relate to those employers that anticipate at least some challenges over the next 12 months.
5 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2008
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Recruitment Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
10 In relation to the proportion of employers in the Justice sector that have recruited in the last 2-3 years, the survey estimates are not considered robust enough to be published.
The all industry average is 72%.
11 Of those employers who had recruited, those in the
Justice sector were much more likely to have last recruited administrative staff, than is the case for all industries.
Table 4 Last role recruited in the last 12 months
Source: SESS 2008
Skills for Justice
All industries
Administrative staff
Elementary staff
58%
0%
16%
14%
Table 5 Vacancy, hard-to-fill vacancy and skill shortage vacancy rates
Source: SESS 2008
Skills for Justice
All industries
Vacancies as a % of employment
Hard-to-fill vacancies as a % of employment
Skill shortage vacancies as a % of employment
Hard-to-fill vacancies as a % of vacancies
2%
1%
0%
30%
3%
2%
1%
50%
13 Measured as a proportion of employment in each respective occupational group, vacancies within the Justice sector were most evident in relation to elementary staff, followed by administrative staff. Measured on the same basis, hard-to-fill vacancies were most evident in relation to personal service staff, followed by associate professionals.
12 A skill shortage vacancy is a specific type of hard-to-fill vacancy that occurs when an employer cannot find applicants with the skills, qualifications or experience to do the job. Skill shortages in Scotland affect about
9% of all employers in Scotland. Where skill shortages and other hard-to-fill vacancies occur, they can have potentially severe consequences for employers.
Compared with other sectors, the Justice sector is characterised by a lower proportion of:
• Vacancies as a proportion of employment;
• Hard-to-fill vacancies as a proportion of employment;
• Skill shortage vacancies as a proportion of employment.
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Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Qualifications sought from candidates
14 Ideally, 37% of employers in all industries that had recruited over the previous 2-3 years were looking for people with a particular qualification. Within the Justice sector this figure was somewhat higher at 59%.
15 Figures on the level of qualifications held by those last recruited into the Justice sector are not robust enough to be reported.
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Workplace development Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
16 A skill gap exists when an employer thinks a worker doesn’t have enough skills to perform their job with full proficiency.
Skill gaps are more common than skill shortages, affecting around one in five Scottish workplaces. Compared with other sectors, skill gaps in the Justice sector affect a slightly higher proportion of employers (24%). Within the sector, they are most evident in relation to personal service staff, measured as a proportion of relevant employees
18 Across the economy as a whole, the majority of employers report that skill gaps cause them either no problems (cited by 27% of employers with skill gaps) or only minor problems
(57%). For employers in the Justice sector, the respective figures are 32% and 65%. For employers in all industries who reported that skill gaps had either a major or minor impact on their business, over 60% said this led to difficulties meeting customer service objectives and just under 60% that it led to difficulties meeting required quality standards.
17 Where skill gaps arise, employers in all industries most frequently cite weaknesses in technical and practical skills and customer handling skills. More than 40% of employers in all industries also cite weaknesses in planning and organising, problem solving skills, oral communication skills and written communication skills.
Information for the Justice sector is not shown as the sample is too small to produce robust results.
Chart 5 The impact of skill gaps; All industries
Source: SESS 2008. The eight most frequently cited impacts have been selected
Information for the Justice sector is not shown as the sample is too small to produce robust results.
Chart 4 Skills that need improving; All industries
Source: SESS 2008
Planning and organising
Customer handling skills
Problem solving skills
Team working skills
Oral communication skills
Other technical and practical skills
Written communications skills
Strategic management skills
Basic computer literacy/ using IT
Advanced IT or software skills
Literacy skills
Using numbers
Soft skills/ personal attributes
0%
1%
10%
24%
21%
20%
20%
33%
29%
27%
30%
44%
44%
54%
52%
47%
52%
Difficulties meeting customer service objectives
Difficulties meeting required quality standards
Increased operating/ running costs
Difficulties introducing new working practices
Loss of business or orders to competitors
Delays developing new products or services
35%
33%
43%
42%
62%
57%
Difficulties introducing technological change
The need to withdraw from offering certain products or services altogether
Increasing workload for other staff
Slows process down/ speed of operation
(inc. productivity)
15%
3%
2%
28%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
40% 50% 60%
All industries
Base: Employers reporting skill gaps that identify an impact on establishment performance.
All industries
Base: Employers reporting skill gaps.
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Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Workplace development
19 Where employers do take action to overcome skill gaps, providing further training, followed by changing working practices are the main responses by employers in all industries.
Information for the Justice sector is not shown as the sample is too small to produce robust results.
Chart 6 Responses to skill gaps by employers; All industries
Source: SESS 2008
Provided further training 89%
Changed working practices
Relocated work within the company
Expanded recruitment channels
Increased/expanded trainee programmes
21%
29%
22%
53%
Increased recruitment
Recruited from outside Scotland
21%
13%
Monitor/appraisal/feedback 2%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%
All industries
Base: Employers with skill gaps that have taken measures to improve staff proficiency.
20 Considering off-the-job training only, an estimated 43% of employees in all industries received such training over the previous 12 months. The respective figure for the
Justice sector is 48%.
21 The most common type of off-the-job training provided by employers in all sectors was job specific.
Information for the Justice sector is not shown as the sample is too small to produce robust results.
22 For those employers in all industries that had not funded or arranged any training over the past 12 months, the main reason for not doing so was that staff were considered already to be fully proficient, or no training was necessary in the business.
Information for the Justice sector is not shown as the sample is too small to produce robust results in relation to most responses.
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Workplace development/Human resource management Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
Chart 7 Reasons for not training; All industries
Source: SESS 2008
Your staff are already fully proficient
40%
No training is necessary in your business
Your establishment lacks the funds for training
Training not considered to be a priority for the business
No training is available in terms of subject area
Will be looking into it soon/ business just started up/ new recruit, etc
4%
There is not enough time for training
4%
10%
7%
5%
Training done in-house/ on the job
3%
31%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
All industries
23 Employers in the Justice sector who had provided or arranged off-the-job training were most likely to use staff on site, followed by private training providers/ external consultants.
24 The main source of skills-related advice from external organisations used by Justice sector employers appears to be from Jobcentre Plus (including careers office/ service), Government departments/agencies and manufacturers/suppliers.
25 The proportion of all employers in Scotland that participate in different Government Training Schemes is as follows: 6
• Modern Apprenticeships (9%)
• Skill Seekers (6%)
• New Deal (5%)
• Training for Work (5%)
• Get Ready for Work (4%)
Data on participation in these different Government Training
Schemes by employers in the Justice SSC do not meet robustness criteria established by Futureskills Scotland and are therefore not available.
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6 This figure is calculated using all employers in Scotland as the base.

Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science Human resource management
26 Information for the Justice sector on the use of different human resource management practices is not available as the sample is too small to produce robust results in relation to most responses. However, by comparison with employers in all sectors, Justice sector employers are more likely to have management accounts.
27 The integration of different HR activities with the overall business strategy amongst employers within the Justice sector appears to be most frequent with respect to activities relating to recruitment and retention, followed by activities to motivate staff and promote business focussed attitudes.
28 The use of different employment practices varies between those employers in the Justice sector and those in all sectors.
In particular, the use of part-time and temporary/contract staff, the use of incentive related pay and Quality Circles 6 appear to be more widespread in the Justice sector than the average for all sectors.
29 When employers were asked about the importance of different employment practices, those in the Justice sector were most likely to cite ‘arrangements for direct involvement of employees in decision making and problem solving’ and undertaking ‘formal surveys of employees views or opinions’ as ‘very important’.
Chart 8 Importance of different employment practices;
Justice sector and all industries
Source: SESS 2008
Arrangements for direct involvement of employees in decision making and problem solving
Formal survey of employees views or opinions
23%
49%
44%
58%
Table 6 Use of different employment practices
Source: SESS 2008
Skills for Justice
All industries
Use of temporary labour/ contract staff
Incentive or performance related pay
Quality Circles
Profit sharing/share options/ gain sharing for employees
56%
48%
35%
2%
39%
37%
22%
17%
Profit sharing/share options/ gain sharing for employees
2%
9%
Staff meetings/ team briefings/ communication with staff
2%
0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Skills for Justice
All industries
The above figures relate to the % of employers citing each employment practice as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
Base: All employers who adopted at least one employment practice.
6 A participative management technique, used extensively by the
Japanese, in which small groups of employees (10 or fewer) meet for an hour or two each week to discuss specific issues. Quality Circles usually follow a standard process of problem identification, root cause analysis, problem solving and implementation.
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Data quality Policing and Law Enforcement, Youth Justice, Custodial Care, Community Justice, Courts Service, Prosecution Services and Forensic Science
The Scottish Employers Skill Survey is the largest survey of its kind in Scotland. It was originally devised to provide robust results on employers’ views on skills, training and recruitment for Scotland as a whole.
To ensure that the results produced are both robust and comparable, a quality assurance exercise was undertaken by
Futureskills Scotland, based on national statistical standards.
Results from the 2008 Scottish Employers Skill Survey for all industry sectors were reviewed.
Based on this, where there is a main indicator for which robust results cannot be presented, results across all industries are presented instead.
Table 7 below sets out the number of establishments sampled for Skills for Justice and all sectors by size band.
Table 7 Sample size of Scottish Employer Skills Survey by size band – Skills for Justice and all sectors
(Numbers of establishments sampled)
Source: Futureskills Scotland
1-4 5-9 10-24 25-49 50-249 250+ Total
Skills for
Justice
All
7 5 12 6
1,488 1,313 1,690 844
11
750
13
189
54
6,274
In addition to the Scottish Employer Skills Survey, a number of other data sources have been used. This includes data relating to:
• Numbers of workplaces and employment from the Inter-
Departmental Business Register, March 2008. This data includes employees and those self-employed that are registered for VAT, but excludes those working on a selfemployed basis but not VAT registered. It is therefore an under count of total numbers in employment.
• Numbers of employees working on a part-time and full-time basis by gender based on the Annual Business Inquiry 2007.
It should be noted this data only relates to employees and excludes those working on a self-employed basis.
• Occupation and age based on the Annual Population Survey
2007. This data includes both employees and those working on a self-employed basis, but is only a sample survey. Data has been presented in percentage terms only.
• The average gross weekly full-time wage for employees based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2008.
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