Evaluation of police and fire reform year 4: key findings

5. Key challenges encountered during reform

For both Police Scotland and SFRS, this evaluation has shown that the key challenges encountered during reform in Scotland typically reflect the types of challenges experienced both internationally and also more generally by organisations experiencing major organisational change. These include communication (both internal and external), re-shaping organisational cultures, and maintaining levels of performance when established structures and processes are being re-configured. It is within this context that this section sets out some of the specific challenges encountered by both the police service and the fire and rescue service in Scotland during their reform journeys.

Police Scotland

Centralism and localism

Since the outset of reform, a range of stakeholders including local councillors, MSPs (Members of Scottish Parliament) and members of the Scottish Police Authority have articulated concerns about the relationship between centralism and localism - documented in the summaries of evidence produced in Years 1 to 4 of this evaluation^[10] and exemplified by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Review of Governance in Policing 2016^[11].

In particular, evidence from each year of this evaluation has highlighted a concern at the limited opportunities for local communities and local scrutiny committees to discuss and challenge decisions taken nationally by Police Scotland that impact locally (as exemplified by debates around the arming of officers and the increased use of stop and search). Furthermore, the speed at which decisions were taken by Police Scotland in the early stages of reform were perceived to have led to a poor assessment of Police Scotland's approach to engagement with local stakeholders, including councillors and partner organisations as discussed in Year 2 of this evaluation.

Unintended consequences

Year 2 of the evaluation highlighted how the cumulative consequences of decisions taken at a national level to restructure and re-focus Police Scotland has impacted on local policing and resulted in unintended consequences at local level. In particular the redeployment of officers to specialist teams, reductions in civilian staff and restructuring of resource provision and geographical responsibilities have resulted in concerns among local officers, shared by the public and local councillors, that resources are increasingly stretched relative to demand. This evaluation found there was also a strong perception among those involved in the routine delivery of local services that they were operating with diminishing resources, and that work to strengthen connections with communities was often hampered by other organisational pressures.

Organisational culture

A key finding from Years 1 and 2 of the evaluation was that while much of the focus during the reform had been on structural changes to 'back office' functions and service delivery, the process of reform had also involved significant cultural adaptations. The vision, values, ideas and practices which are the basis of organisational culture take much longer to establish than administrative structures and processes. A key conclusion emerging from the evaluation was that insufficient attention had been given to the cultural aspects of reform and the 'Policing Principles' set out in the 2012 Reform Act. Although aspects of the vision and values of Police Scotland are now being addressed, particularly through the Policing 2026 strategy, in the early phases of reform there was evidence that a dominant approach to policing, centred around enforcement and rigid performance management practices, was rolled out across Police Scotland. In addition the 'Policing Principles' set out in the 2012 Reform Act, which focus on issues of well-being, collaboration, harm reduction, and local engagement, were found to have been given less priority in the early phases of reform.

Communication

As the Year 2 report illustrates, there was a strong perception among frontline officers who participated in the research of poor internal communication. This was discussed in a number of different ways, including confusion about status of targets, the desire among local officers to understand not just the 'what' and 'how' of organisational change but also the 'why', whilst a lack of clarity around career development and training opportunities for local officers in the new national organisation was seen to be contributing to low morale. There was also a wish for more open and honest communication around the challenges of implementing reform.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Feeling stretched

Evidence presented in the Year 2 report of this evaluation showed how local firefighters have reported feeling stretched as a result of declining numbers of administrative staff, which was viewed as resulting in increasing workloads. Middle managers also reported having less time for partnership working, managing their crew and delivering training. Decisions regarding the centralisation of support functions were also seen as increasing levels of bureaucracy in accessing support or equipment compared with legacy arrangements. There were also concerns regarding the centralisation of support services, IT and their ability to access some equipment. For example, in some of the urban and rural geographical case study areas, concerns were raised about a reduction in the number of appliances since reform (although this has now risen)^[12], ageing and unreliable equipment and the length of time it takes for equipment to be repaired.

De-skilling

Some views were expressed by local firefighters participating in this evaluation regarding the logistics of engaging specialist teams and the risks of de-skilling local firefighters because of a reliance on specialists from outwith local areas. The availability of specialist training for local firefighters was raised in the geographical case study areas. In the rural areas in particular, accessing specialist training was seen by some local firefighters as a barrier to developing skills, due to a perceived lack of trainers in the area^[13].

Cultural change

In Years 1 and 3 of the evaluation there was a recognition by the national key informants that there is a need to transform the mindsets and culture in the service to ensure the workforce embraces the new challenges they face. In relation to prevention, the partners as part of the thematic case study in Year 3 viewed SFRS as providing leadership in the prevention agenda and moving away from crisis to prevention. A clear shift towards a prevention orientated culture was identified, and it was acknowledged amongst SFRS senior staff that cultural change may take a generation particularly for firefighters to see themselves as part of the national service rather than the legacy arrangements.

Communication

As the Year 2 report of the evaluation showed, internal communication has been perceived by local firefighters as a matter requiring attention. There are concerns that in the national organisation it takes longer to find out information and to know who to contact, that the volume of information 'pushed out' to local areas is too high, and the new organisation post reform (SFRS) is more hierarchical than the legacy services. This was exemplified in firefighters' view expressed in the Year 2 report of the need to improve internal communication in SFRS of the outcome of partnership working given that it is typically more senior officers that participated in meetings so that local firefighters were less aware of what was decided. There was also a frustration expressed by firefighters that they were not always informed about the outcome of joint working, which they felt would be important for learning about what worked well and what did not work well.