By Steve Bargeton, political editor

UP TO 300 police officers could be back on the beat following a deal to allow a private firm to escort prisoners to and from court.

The Scottish Prison service announced yesterday that Reliance Secure Task Management had won a £126 million contract to provide the escort work over the next seven years, beginning next spring. Justice minister Cathy Jamieson described the move as a “sensible, practical measure” to free police officers to fight crime.

“Removing the need for active police officers to be involved in transporting prisoners from court to prisons, and supervising them within the courts themselves, will free up to 300 experienced, trained police officers once the service is rolled out across the country,” she said.

“These officers will bring with them a wealth of practical experience which can be put to better use elsewhere.”

The minister said the deal would also allow prison service staff to spend more time in prisons, allowing them to carry out the duties they have been trained for.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) said it had supported and assisted the project to contract out prisoner escort and court custody management.

ACPOS representative Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Dickson, of Lothian and Borders police, said, “It makes no sense to use multi-skilled and expensively-trained and maintained police officers for these limited but important tasks, especially when that reduces the number of police officers available for mainstream policing.

“It makes sense for the movement of prisoners between police custody centres, courts and prisons to be run as a national operation rather than as eight or nine separate operations.

“Equally, the care and custody of prisoners in courts is not something that only police officers can manage. All these tasks together could be better managed by a single organisation dedicated to the operation while police officers are better used in mainstream policing, whether patrolling the streets, investigating crime and offences or dealing with community problems.”

Scottish Prison Service chief Tony Cameron said, “This contract will allow prison staff to focus more on the needs of the prisoners, challenging their offending behaviours, and work with them to provide them with the skills they require to reintegrate into society and reduce the likelihood of their re-offending.

“It will allow us to operate our regimes more effectively and allow prison staff to do what they do best—work with prisoners.”

Reliance Secure Task Management already has a contract with the Scottish Executive to provide electronic monitoring of offenders.

“The award further illustrates our wide-ranging capabilities in the provision of business process outsourcing to the criminal justice system,” said managing director Tom Riall.

“We are confident that the award of this contract will be welcomed by both the prison service and the police, as it will free up valuable resources for both organisations.”

Scottish Tory justice spokeswoman Annabel Goldie said, “As long as safety is not compromised, this is a sensible move.

“Our police are overstretched and anything that frees up officers for frontline duty is common sense.”

But SNP justice spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said, “It is totally unbelievable that after the outcry over the contracting out of prison escort services, the Scottish Executive is still hell- bent on rolling out their privatisation agenda.

“This move amounts to nothing more than the selling off of vital escort services and the main worry is that the Scottish Executive will not stop there.

“The most important issue is the security of prisoners, which is a core public service that must be delivered solely in the interest of the general public. While efforts should be made to free up police and prison officers’ time, privatisation of the prison service is not the way forward.”

And Scottish Socialist justice spokesman Colin Fox said, “Cathy Jamieson is continuing the failed privatisation policies in relation to the justice system that have seen real problems arising in other areas of the public sector.”