Evaluation of police and fire reform year 4: key findings

4. Police and fire and rescue services in Scotland

This section focuses on Aim 1 of the evaluation and assesses the extent to which the three aims of police and fire reform in Scotland appear to have been met (reduced duplication, greater access to specialist expertise, and strengthening connections with communities) for both the police service and the fire and rescue service.

Police Scotland

Police organisations internationally are facing similar sets of challenges around changing forms of criminality (particularly in relation to cybercrime and terrorism), the management of public expectations in relation to maintaining a locally visible police presence, and the increasing role policing plays in dealing with issues of vulnerability and public health (particularly in the context of mental health and distress, drugs and different forms of violence).

A further challenge relevant to Scotland concerns the need for Police Scotland to make significant efficiency savings if it is achieve financial balance by 2021, as highlighted in the Policing^[4] 2026 document and by Audit Scotland^[5].

It is against this backdrop that many police organisations internationally are undergoing reform and in this section we assess the extent to which the reforms in Scotland have met their strategic aims.

Progress is being made

There is plausible and credible evidence from this evaluation (and other sources including HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) and Audit Scotland) that progress is being made towards achieving the policy intentions of the 2012 Act, although this is uneven across the three aims of the Act.

Of the 3 strategic aims of reform, that relating to more equal access to national capacity and specialist expertise has the strongest evidence of progress being made to achieve this. This is exemplified in interviews with national key informants in Year 1 of this evaluation who highlighted how responses to major incidents are perceived by stakeholders as having significantly improved. Arguably this is the area where most rapid progress could be made given that it typically involves the consolidation of existing regional resources into national units.

Progress has also been achieved in terms of reduced duplication. However, while local service delivery has been maintained there was a strong sense among local officers of diminishing local resources which are increasingly stretched relative to demand. This view was expressed by local officers, members of the public, local councillors, community groups and third sector organisations during the Year 2 geographical case studies in this evaluation, where it was felt that local resources to deal with routine responses and community engagement were thinly spread due to the cumulative effects of the re-deployment and non-replacement of local officers to specialist units, reductions in civilian staff positions that then require backfilling by officers, and the reconfiguration of 'beat' boundaries to create larger geographical units.

Progress still required for strengthening local connections

The third policy intention regarding strengthening connections with local communities remains an area where progress is still ongoing.

Academic research carried out by Murray (2018) examined 'Police reform and public confidence in Scottish policing: 2012 - 2015. An analysis of Scottish Social Attitudes survey data'. The analysis of these data suggests that public confidence fell significantly between 2014 and 2015. Based on the survey data, Murray suggests this may be due to the perceived changes to on the ground police practice, including a perceived reduction in local police presence^[6].

Recent findings published in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey^[7] found that the majority of adults (57%) said that the police in their local area were doing a good or excellent job in 2017/18, unchanged since 2016/17 but down from 61% in 2012/13. The Survey has also observed that since 2008/09, there has been increases in confidence across the six measures of public confidence in the ability of the police covered by the Survey. Confidence in the ability of the police decreased marginally between 2012/13 and 2014/15 on some measures, but has broadly stabilised since and in 2017/18 remained above the 2008/09 baseline across all six indicators.

When considering people's interactions and engagement with the police in their local area, the qualitative case study evidence from the analysis of 4 communities across Scotland in Year 2 of this evaluation found that in all 4 local areas, the public and local councillors were generally very positive about their interactions with local policing teams, particularly in rural areas. However, local officers, councillors, third sector organisations and the public were aware that community engagement and locally based joint initiatives were under pressures from other demands on policing. Some members of the public participating in the community case studies in this evaluation expressed dissatisfaction with the use of the 101 number, as well as about the closure and limited opening times of some police stations. With respect to partnership working, there was clear evidence in this evaluation that this was viewed positively by police, councillors, local authority staff and third sector organisations, and that it was of strategic importance and well supported by the attendance of senior officers at partnership meetings.

Progress on wider transformation

In terms of a wider transformation of policing in Scotland, the realisation of the 'Principles of Policing^[8]' set out in the 2012 Act (which include a focus on prevention, partnership and harm reduction) continues. As Year 1 of the evaluation showed, in the initial stages of reform, there was little evidence that the Principles strongly informed the policy and practice of policing but with the publication of Policing 2026 a more visible and strategic commitment to these Principles has emerged. Police Scotland is developing a discourse around the transformation of service delivery focused around key pillars of prevention, protection, localism, innovation and knowledge.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Fire and rescue organisations internationally have not witnessed the same level of structural reform as police organisations. Nevertheless, against a background of reducing demand for their firefighting services, many fire organisations are having to re-think their role and strategic priorities, particularly in relation to the balance between reactive (responding to fires) and proactive, preventative activities with organisations, neighbourhoods and vulnerable individuals. Within this context, this section assesses the extent to which the reforms in Scotland have achieved their strategic aims.

Progress is being made

There is plausible and credible evidence (from this evaluation and work by HM Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI) and Audit Scotland) of progress being made by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) towards achieving the three long-term aims of reform as set out in the 2012 Act.

There has been reduced duplication and rationalisation of service provision and the removal of legacy boundaries has made it easier to access specialist expertise and national capacity.

Progress has also been made in determining the most equitable and appropriate geographical location of assets in the context of variable risk profiles of different areas and the changing demands on the service as a whole. For example, SFRS and HMFSI have established a detailed picture of variation in equipment, skills and capacity across Scotland and national key informants in Year 1 of this evaluation believed progress was being made in addressing regional variations.

Contribution to strengthening local connections

Firefighters, partners and the general public in the Year 2 geographical case study areas in Scotland discussed the positive contribution that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) makes to community well-being and how prevention was now a key part of the firefighter's role.

Partnership working was also viewed very positively by local groups in each case study area with scope for further ongoing improvement around data sharing, communication and retaining informal networks in rural areas.

Focus on transformation

From data gathered for this evaluation in the key informant interviews in Year 3, SFRS see themselves as having largely completed the integration and consolidation phase of the reform journey and perceive that the organisation now 'looks and feels like a national service'. The focus is now on transformation, which is partly being articulated through the Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2016^[9], and through addressing the need to consider the future roles and expectations of firefighters in a context where an emphasis on reactive activity is increasingly being displaced by a focus on prevention and a broader concern with health, safety and the well-being of vulnerable populations.