Sponsored by
Sheriff slams social workers over 'substantially irrelevant' reports
SCOTTISH Borders Council social work department has come under fire in an astonishing attack from the bench at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Kevin Drummond hit out at the content and length of social enquiry reports which are prepared for offenders when custody or community-based sentences are being considered. He said the way the department currently produced them was a waste of valuable resources.
Sheriff Drummond, speaking at a court sitting last Thursday, described them as "verbose, historical, substantially irrelevant, frequently unhelpful and time consuming", adding that in future lawyers should not assume that he has read them. He launched his verbal broadside after reading a seven-page long report into 20-year-old Christopher Davidson of Hawick, who had breached his probation order. In the report it mentions on 10 occasions the fact that Davidson suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Sheriff Drummond said: "From time to time and over a number of years I have spoken both formally and informally to the social work department about the content and length of the social enquiry reports provided for the court.
"The responses which I have received have been wholly unproductive to the extent that I have been informed that these reports are prepared to a formula and in a style laid down by the department.
"No effort on my part has brought about any improvement in the content of the reports notwithstanding reminding the department that the reports are for the court and instructed by the court. I am driven to the conclusion that social enquiry reports are prepared by the department for the department."
The sheriff continued: "In my opinion, as presently formulated, they are wasteful of valuable resources and time of the department itself, the court and the solicitors to whom they are also made available.
"If any other Reporter to the court – and there are other sources which the court seeks from time to time – were to be reporting routinely such verbose, historical, substantially irrelevant, frequently unhelpful and time-consuming reports, I would be able to take steps to ensure that such a practice was brought to an end.
"Reading these reports which continue to grow in length is a time-consuming exercise and solicitors and the public would be entitled to assume that the court has read the material placed before it.
"This is a public court and for that reason I give notice to the bar and to the department that that assumption should no longer be made.
"If there is any historical material in a social enquiry report to which a practitioner considers that the court's attention should be drawn it will be the responsibility of the practitioner to focus the court's attention on the material in question."
Sheriff Drummond, who has sat on the benches at Duns, Jedburgh and Selkirk for the past eight years, is one of the country's most respected sheriffs.
Last month, in another blistering attack from the bench, he described his sentencing powers as a "charade" as he condemned the practice of releasing prisoners early. He said it was bringing the judicial system into disrepute and making the sentences he hands down meaningless.
His comments were repeated in the following weeks by several leading legal figures.
Scottish Borders Council insisted it had already introduced a new style of social enquiry reports following a meeting with Sheriff Drummond in May.
A spokeswoman said: “He was advised that a review had been undertaken and a new template was being developed for all of the social workers to use.
“The purpose of the template was to focus the social enquiry report writer’s attention on what was the relevant information, limit the amount of information presented within the report, increase the analysis of the information and ensure the ‘preferred outcome’ was presented clearly and was well evidenced.
“The reports should not be repetitive and, unless the offender’s circumstances oroffence are particularly complex, should generally be about four pages.
“The template has just been in use for four weeks.”
The spokeswoman added: “Our understanding is that the report Sheriff Drummond referred to in court relates to a report writtenbefore the introduction of the template.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
