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SNP MSP for Glasgow, Bob Doris, is seeking cross-party support to allow Scotland to retain all the money it seizes from criminals under proceeds of crime legislation. Currently, anything seized over £30m in any one year is clawed back by the UK Treasury. This could cost community groups across Scotland £3m this year alone. Mr Doris has placed a motion before parliament on the matter, and has also written to Chancellor George Osborne calling on him to scrap the ceiling altogether.
Commenting, the SNP’s Bob Doris said: “We should welcome the huge success of Scotland’s police forces in recovering record amounts of cash through proceeds of crime. This has led to over £33million going to projects in both the public and voluntary sector in Scotland’s deprived communities since 2003. 2010/11 has already seen £24m seized from criminals, an annual record, and it is crazy that the UK Treasury have imposed an artificial limit of £30m. Every penny recovered should be spent supporting the communities in Scotland that have been suffered from crime. Voluntary and community groups who do great work across the country would greatly benefit from the money. It is estimated that by the end of this financial year, £33m will have been taken from criminals in Scotland. Given that last year the annual limit was raised from £17m to £30m, I am optimistic that this ceiling can be scrapped entirely. I have written to the Chancellor to press him on the matter.
Notes:
The motion tabled by Bob Doris can be found here:
S3M-07656 Bob Doris (Glasgow) (Scottish National Party): Criminal Cash Better Spent in Scotland — That the Parliament welcomes the significant increase in criminal asset recovery under the proceeds of crime legislation and what it considers to be the tremendous success of the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities initiative, which allocates seized criminal assets to community projects in some of Scotland’s most deprived areas; considers that, while the annual limit of £30 million that Scotland is permitted to retain under the current rules has never before been reached, this figure is expected to be exceeded by the end of the 2010-11 financial year; believes that any such additional money would be better spent helping Scotland’s crime-affected communities than going to HM Treasury, and calls on the UK Government to recognise the success of the scheme and immediately remove the £30 million threshold.
Supported by: Mary Scanlon, Bill Kidd, Anne McLaughlin, Dr Bill Wilson, Nigel Don, Stewart Maxwell, Joe FitzPatrick, Kenneth Gibson, Sandra White, Maureen Watt, John Wilson, Brian Adam, Stuart McMillan
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