A leading member of Scotland's prison-visiting committees has called for increased funding for the vital justice scheme, claiming that the volunteers who monitor jails are working ever longer hours and don't receive expenses for some trips.

Jim Scott, chairman of the committee responsible for visiting Scotland's only women's prison at Cornton Vale, near Stirling, spoke out after a major review recommended changes to the system that has independently scrutinised the health and welfare of inmates and staff at Scotland's 16 adult prisons for 120 years.

The groups, which are funded by individual prisons, face a huge shake-up when local authority-funded Criminal Justice Authorities (CJAs) take charge of appointments and funding from 2008. Among the recommendations are better training and a more "professional" approach.

However, Scott claimed the service was still desperately underfunded and needs more money if it is to provide much-needed support to inmates and prepare them for life outside.

He said the visiting committees were the poor relations of the equivalent English and Welsh independent monitoring boards, which have direct funding from the Home Office. Scotland's prison-visiting committees receive only £44,000 from the prison service for all the committees, compared with £13,500 allocated for each prison board south of the border.

Scott, who is also chairman of Erskine Hospital, said that he had heard claims that some of the 215 Scottish committee members had been left out of pocket by prisons being unable to pay their travel expenses.

He told the Sunday Herald: "The government's getting a service for bugger all. We are being asked to do more than volunteers should be. The recommendations in the report said we should have a higher visibility in prisons. Well, that's very nice but I would like to have some time to sit down and watch TV at night too.

"My committee are fantastic volunteers and we have about 98% attendance at our meetings. I know some committees where they struggle to get 30% attendance.

"The problem is that some prisons don't have enough in their budgets to pay for expenses for the weekly visits. We are talking about peanuts - £30 to drive from Glasgow to a prison."

Scott also claimed prison-visiting committees receive little training for their roles. The group that he chairs, he said, got "a couple of days" last year - but it was paid for from their budget.

"Although CJAs will make it more professional, the one thing that's missing is the finance," he added.

The Scottish committees were officially renamed "monitoring boards" on April 1. The eight CJAs based around the country will be responsible for who sits on the committees. However, another senior prison visiting committee member was concerned that the CJAs were "overwhelmingly" run by ex-social workers, claiming it would be preferable "if there was a cross-section from different professions in charge of the CJAs to understand inmates better".

But CJA leaders defended the recruitment process for the posts.

Tony McNulty, chief officer of Lanarkshire CJA, who began his career in social work but recently spent nine years with the HM Prison Inspectorate, said candidates went through a "tough interview process".

Clive Fairweather, Scotland's former chief inspector of prisons, believes the Executive and the prison service are paying the price for years of neglect. He added: "These people are volunteering their time with no axe to grind and there could be an awful lot more done to help."

Neil Powrie, chairman of the Association of Visiting Committees, said members were given "adequate support". Powrie, who sits on the Noranside group in Angus and took part in the review, added: "We are putting in place measures with the CJAs to run the committees to better standards.

"The issue about expenses will be addressed long-term, but the governors are mainly very supportive about that too."

The Scottish Executive is due to make a decision on the review's recommendations later this year.