Counting the cost of slopping out

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Holyrood powers on compensation claims will be temporarily extended, while a permanent solution is brought forward. By Glenn Campbell Political correspondent, BBC Scotland

Slopping out may have ended in Scotland's jails but the practice has left a costly legacy.

Those forced to use a potty in a shared cell are successfully claiming compensation for breaches of their human rights.

About 200 cases a month are being lodged against the Scottish government and ministers have already spent £11m settling 3,700 claims.

A further £67m has been set aside for future payouts to convicted criminals - but that bill could now be cut by £50m, because of joint action by the UK and Scottish governments.

The UK government has agreed to tweak the law to temporarily extend Holyrood's powers, with an emergency order being laid in both houses at Westminster before the Easter break.

If approved, it will allow Scottish ministers to rush a bill through Holyrood by the summer, establishing a one year time-bar for all human rights claims.

Jim Murphy seems to have achieved in one week what the two governments were unable to do in almost 18 months

This limit already exists elsewhere in the UK but, in October 2007, the House of Lords ruled that it did not apply in cases against the Scottish Government.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said he had been negotiating with UK ministers ever since, for help to close the loophole.

In a Holyrood statement last week, he complained that the Lord Chancellor was "not persuaded of the case for action".

Going public with this disagreement seemed to concentrate minds in the UK administration.

By the time the statement was delivered, the Lord Chancellor had apparently suggested "further urgent discussions between senior officials".

Within hours, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy was promising to "find a way of resolving this complex issue".

Deducting the cost

To his credit, he seems to have achieved in one week what the two governments were unable to do in almost 18 months.

The emergency measures are to be followed up by UK wide legislation to ensure all the devolved administrations are time-bar protected.

The Conservatives said it was a matter of regret that "only when the news hit the headlines did anything happen".

An earlier focus on this issue may well have saved many more millions of pounds being poured into compensation for criminals.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has now raised the possibility of clawing some of that cash back.

During question time at Holyrood, he said his government was looking into deducting the cost of imprisonment from payouts to prisoners in slopping out cases.