Scotland's Justice Minister went on the offensive yesterday over his plans to replace short prison sentences with community service orders, saying manual labour would be tougher than jail.

Kenny MacAskill claimed that thousands of offenders serving short-term sentences of up to six months spent much of their time in jail watching television, playing video games and planning crimes.

The minister was speaking before a meeting of Holyrood's justice committee tomorrow, when some of Scotland's most senior judges are expected to attack his community sentences plan as impractical.

The proposal, included in a justice Bill before the Scottish Parliament, would end most prison sentences of six months or less for low-risk offenders and replace them with community orders that would have them carry out tasks such as picking up litter.

In an interview yesterday, Mr MacAskill said that short sentences were futile as there was no time to address the reasons behind a prisoner's offending. He said: “You lie in your prison cell. You've got your flat-screen telly. You play the Nintendo. You play pool. You meet up with your old mates. You work out new crimes. You don't break the cycle of offending. It's a bit of a skoosh, really.

“Being out on a cold day in the blowing winds at Broughty Ferry beach, that's actually quite hard work, picking up the litter, doing some manual labour. We've got to end the idea that free bed and board at the taxpayer's expense is the tough option. It's the soft option.”

On any given day in Scottish prisons about 10 per cent of inmates are serving sentences of lesss than six months. Mr MacAskill's plans are opposed not only by Opposition parties at Holyrood but also by some judges and sheriffs. In a submission to the committee, the Sherrifs' Association defends short sentences, saying they are “clearly of use”.

The Scottish Tories are also opposed and Bill Aitken, the party's justice spokesman, claimed that Mr MacAskill was “desperate to empty our jails”.

Mr Aitken pointed out that at present only 58 per cent of community service orders (CSOs) and 57 per cent of supervised attendance orders were completed successfully. He said: “Over a third of all CSOs result in a breach. For probation orders the rate is 39 per cent. How on earth can anyone call that a success?

“The SNP just want to empty our prisons. They want convicts in the community rather than prisoners in prison. We must fight back against the SNP's soft-touch Scotland.”

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that organised criminals who used legitimate businesses as a front could be prevented from winning public contracts.

Under proposals outlined by the Scottish government, any public sector body awarding big contracts would be able to check with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency whether firms tendering for the work had links to serious organised crime groups.

Such groups often use legitimate businesses such as taxi or security firms as a front, giving them the opportunity to tender for contracts.

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone