Keeping Scotland Safe and Strong - A Consultation on Reforming Police and Fire and Rescue Services in Scotland: Analysis of Consultation Responses

4. NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Question 4: What are your views on the composition of the Scottish Police Authority and the specific skills, experience and expertise required for it to perform its roles effectively?

Summary of proposals in the consultation document:

• To ensure its effectiveness in working together as a unit, the SPA should have no more than 11 members.
• The SPA should combine the right skills, experience and expertise to collectively govern the service and hold the Chief Constable to account.

4.1 83 respondents from the following respondent categories addressed this question.

Respondent category	Number of respondents	Respondent category	Number of respondents
Pol Force	5	LA	25
PB	6	Vol	2
Pol Org	10	CPP	3
FRS		NHS
FB		Oth	17
Fire Org		Individuals	15

Note: Abbreviations used in the above table are described in Table 1.

Size of the SPA

4.2 45 respondents provided their view that the SPA should comprise more than 11 members. Suggestions of size from 13 to 32 members (one per each local authority) were made. The reasons given for recommending a larger membership included:

• Need depth and capacity to deal with national and local issues.
• Perceived to be less likely to be subject to undue influence and control by Ministers.
• Better representation of diverse communities.
• Less likely to give impression of a centralised, "top down" organisation.
• Will ensure better links with local government.
• Gives capacity to include experts as well as elected representatives.
• Ensures adequate numbers at meetings even if a few representatives are unable to attend.

Skills, experience and expertise required of SPA members

4.3 26 respondents (from a range of sectors) considered that the SPA should include a majority, or at least a significant component, of elected members amongst its membership. 3 respondents requested that some places be reserved for personnel who are completely independent of local authorities or government. 2 respondents argued for the SPA to comprise all independent members. There were mixed views on whether the SPA should be representative of political parties.

4.4 There was some support for a lay component to be built into the SPA to champion the public interest.

4.5 10 respondents from a range of sectors urged that the SPA represent a diversity of geographical areas.

4.6 Other sectors which a minority of respondents recommended should have representation on the SPA were: business sector; church; judiciary; trade unions; local committees such as community councils; voluntary sector; academia; and former/retired police personnel.

4.7 Overall respondents identified 17 different skill sets which they considered should be displayed within the SPA. The 5 most commonly mentioned were: knowledge of policing issues; knowledge of local government; financial skills; strategic skills; and legal/criminal justice knowledge.

4.8 Several respondents (largely police bodies) recommended that members of the SPA should be supported with continuous training, for example, on equality and diversity issues.

Question 5: Do you think a number of appointments to the Authority should be reserved for serving councillors nominated by COSLA? Or that Ministers should simply ensure that the individuals appointed to the authority include those with experience and knowledge of local government?

Summary of proposals in the consultation document:

• 2 different approaches to appointing members of the Authority were tabled:
  • Appointment by Scottish Ministers through a formal public appointment process which complies with the Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland's Code of Practice. These appointments would include individuals with experience, and knowledge, of local government and local policing.
  • Ministers could appoint a number of serving councillors, nominated by COSLA, to represent the collective voice of local government on the authority.

4.9 79 respondents from the following respondent categories addressed this question.

Respondent category	Number of respondents	Respondent category	Number of respondents
Pol Force	5	LA	24
PB	6	Vol	2
Pol Org	10	CPP	3
FRS		NHS
FB		Oth	14
Fire Org		Individuals	15

Note: Abbreviations used in the above table are described in Table 1.

Views on nominations by COSLA

4.10 28 respondents largely from LA, CPP and Oth respondent sectors recommended that at least some appointments should be nominated by COSLA in the first instance. Nominations by COSLA were seen as having the following benefits:

• commanding public confidence
• reflecting geographical and socio-economic diversity
• linking with local government
• accountability
• achieving political balance.

4 respondents called for COSLA nominations to go through the Public Appointment System (Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland) to ensure security clearance, gender and regional balance.

Views on appointments by Ministers

4.11 9 respondents (3 of them police bodies) were clear in their view that Ministers should not appoint members of the Authority. Their reasons included:

• independence of SPA could be called into question
• will create tension with local government over any appointments made
• open to political interference
• could create a policing quango.

4.12 Suggestions were made by other respondents on other approaches to appointments. The 3 most common were appointments by existing Police Authorities/Joint Boards, by local councils or by MSPs.

Question 6: What are your views on the roles and responsibilities for governance and accountability set out?

Summary of proposals in the consultation document:

• Scottish Ministers will appoint the Chair and members of the SPA, set its budget and high level strategic objectives.
• The SPA will govern the service and hold the Chief Constable to account.
• The Chief Constable will lead and manage the service; be accountable for its actions and performance; produce an annual delivery plan and associated budget; and designate a Local Commander for each local council area.
• Each council will have the right to formally comment on the Local Policing Plan; monitor and scrutinise performance against the Local Policing Plan; and monitor and scrutinise complaints.
• The Local Commander will prepare, for the agreement of the council, the Local Policing Plan; be the lead officer for the police's role in community planning; and allocate local resources and seek resources from the Chief Constable to deliver the Local Policing Plan.

4.13 91 respondents from the following respondent categories addressed this question.

Respondent category	Number of respondents	Respondent category	Number of respondents
Pol Force	6	LA	26
PB	6	Vol	4
Pol Org	11	CPP	6
FRS		NHS
FB		Oth	19
Fire Org		Individuals	13

Note: Abbreviations used in the above table are described in Table 1.

Local accountability

4.14 The majority of responses focused on local accountability issues including the relationship between Local Commanders and local authorities, committees and partnerships. Many respondents welcomed the commitment to enhance local accountability, but a common view was that the arrangements for local accountability were unclear and confusing. One respondent commented:

"It will be challenging to create a model which matches the Government's aspirations for enhanced national and local accountability" (LA).

4.15 Paragraphs 3.19 and 3.20 of the consultation document were singled out by 27 respondents as appearing to be inconsistent and confusing in stating on the one hand that the council and Local Commander will develop the local policing plan "jointly", yet on the other reducing the council's role to one of formally commenting on the plan. Paragraph 3.25 was seen as adding to the confusion by stating that the Local Commander should prepare the local policing plan "for the agreement of the council". A recurring theme was that the council should have a robust and well defined role in contributing to the local plan, with the right to reject the plan if necessary.

4.16 14 respondents, largely local authorities, recommended that there should be an alignment of local decision-making with delegated budgetary responsibility, although it was acknowledged that budget setting by the SPA would impact on the local plan and local budget.

4.17 12 respondents, largely local authorities, supported framing the role and function of local committees in statute, including an articulation of the process by which local committee views and concerns can be aired at SPA level. The role of local committees was seen as potentially weakened and tokenistic without such statutory backing.

4.18 4 respondents specifically commended the intention to allow local authorities to develop their own local mechanism for exercising their rights and formalising the relationship between the council and the Local Commander. However, there was some concern that in practice this could lead to considerable variation between authorities which would be difficult to benchmark.

4.19 7 respondents (largely police bodies) supported the idea of divisional or regional structures clustering a number of local command areas. Benefits were identified as permitting existing strategic partnerships such as Strategic Coordinating Groups to be retained with representation at divisional meetings; serving smaller local authorities more effectively; and providing a platform for topics which fall between local and national significance.

Local Commander

4.20 4 respondents called for elected member representation in the selection process for Local Commanders. This proposal was seen as supporting and preserving aspects of local accountability and the link to elected members.

4.21 Whilst the allocation of a Local Commander to each local authority was generally welcomed, a recurring comment from police bodies and local authorities was that further thought needed to be given to how the Local Commander would formally relate to local partners. There was confusion over the Local Commander's lines of responsibility and accountability. A few respondents from a range of sectors suggested that whilst Local Commanders will have some level of accountability to local authorities, they are ultimately answerable to the Chief Constable which could result in local needs taking second place. Calls were made for Local Commanders to have delegated budgetary and decision-making autonomy to ensure that they can engage in a meaningful way with local committees.

4.22 2 respondents requested that the Local Commander's listed responsibilities be expanded to provide greater coverage of operational policing as opposed to what was perceived to be a focus almost wholly on accountability.

4.23 It was considered that the current proposals set up a substantial risk of tension between individual councils and the Local Commander due to their lack of clarity on the arbitration process which would ensue should conflict arise over local policing plans.

4.24 The suggestion that Local Commanders could integrate the local policing plan with the wider Community Planning Partnership and single outcome agreements was welcomed particularly by the partnerships themselves. This was seen as enabling the Local Commander to be accessible and responsive, fitting with a local, bottom-up approach whilst interfacing with top-down governance.

4.25 12 respondents from a range of sectors raised the issue of variation in rank of Local Commanders as potentially problematic. A common view was that lower ranked Local Commanders may defer to those higher ranked, resulting in larger local authorities exerting greater influence over the allocation of resources. Local authority respondents suggested a minimum rank be set for Local Commander at a level sufficiently high to hold influence over resourcing and decision-making.

Chief Constable

4.26 Overall, the role of Chief Constable was seen as being well defined in the consultation document although requests were made from police organisations for the explicit inclusion of the functions of operational delivery and crime investigation. The importance of operational independence of the Chief Constable was emphasised.

4.27 Common concerns focused on what respondents perceived to be the lack of clarity on the interface between the Chief Constable and local committees and in particular the relationship between local and national policing priorities. It was not clear to 8 respondents how potential conflicts between national and local policing priorities will be resolved. 2 respondents urged that the Chief Constable be accountable to local councils in addition to the SPA. A recurring theme was to question how local voices can be heard by the Chief Constable.

Scottish Parliament

4.28 8 respondents, including 7 police bodies, commented specifically on the role of the Scottish Parliament. Whilst some welcomed Parliament's proposed role in scrutinising the Scottish Policing Plan, others cautioned that Parliament's involvement in overseeing national and local policing plans could, potentially, become overly bureaucratic and risked compromising the independence of the police service.

4.29 Further detail was requested on Ministers' operation of the "power of direction" in relation to the SPA. Clarification was called for on the circumstances in which this power might be used, what would constitute a "last resort" and what safeguards could be put in place to ensure that the power is not misused.

Scottish Police Authority

4.30 Very little comment was made on the proposed responsibilities for the SPA, over and above those previously reported in relation to membership of the SPA.

Local authority monitoring and scrutinising complaints

4.31 11 respondents representing a range of sectors focused on the proposal for local authorities to monitor and scrutinise complaints. There were mixed views on this proposal, with the broad welcome by some counter-balanced by others' caution that councils will need to be supported to carry out this function. A few respondents were confused about how this proposal fitted with proposals for complaints handling in section 5 of the consultation document.

Potential omissions

4.32 Potential omissions from the consultation document were suggested as:

• governance arrangements for centralised departments such as firearms, licensing
• police appeal tribunals
• partnership arrangements with Health Board Accountability Officers for Controlled Drugs, nationally and locally.

4.33 Summary

• A strong view was that the SPA should comprise more than 11 members to ensure representation of a wide range of skills and geographical diversity.
• Respondents were largely in favour of a number of appointments to the SPA being reserved for serving councillors nominated by COSLA.
• Despite many respondents welcoming the proposed intention to enhance local accountability under the reforms, a common view was that the arrangements outlined for local accountability appeared to be unclear and confusing.
• A recurring theme was that local authorities should have a meaningful role in contributing to their local policing plan, with some degree of alignment of local decision-making and delegated budgetary authority.
• There was considerable support for framing the role and function of local committees in statute.
• Greater clarity was requested on the lines of responsibility and accountability between the Local Commander, local partners and Chief Constable.
• Concern was raised over possible variation in rank of Local Commanders, a common view being that lower ranked officers may have less influence over allocation of resources to their respective authorities.