Evaluation of police and fire reform year 4: key findings

7. Closing remarks

The establishment of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in 2013 were some of the most ambitious public sector reforms in Scotland for a generation. While the strategic aims of these reforms were clearly articulated by the Scottish Government at the outset, the process of implementing the vision of both a single police service and a fire and rescue service has been more challenging and complex than anticipated by those in both policy and practitioner communities. However, significant progress has been made towards achieving the intended outcomes of reform as set out in the 2012 Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act, and the transformational opportunities in service design and delivery created by reform are now being explored. Having achieved the integration and consolidation of the legacy police and fire and rescue services during the first phases of reform, the learning from these experiences will be important in informing the approach to the next stages of organisational change.