Police complaints, investigations and misconduct - legislation proposals: consultation analysis summary

1 Introduction

This report summarises the analysis of responses to the public consultation on the recommendations made by Dame Elish Angiolini following her independent review of complaints handling, investigations and misconduct issues in relation to policing^[1].

Through the preliminary report^[2] (June 2019) and final report (November 2020)^[1], Dame Elish made 111 individual recommendations, 34 of which are likely to require legislation. The Scottish Government and Crown Office committed to accepting the majority of the recommendations in the joint response to Dame Elish's final report by the former Lord Advocate and former Cabinet Secretary for Justice in February 2021^[3].

According to the third thematic progress report published in June 2022, 44 of the recommendations have already been implemented, although some recommendations have been identified as likely to require a basis in primary or secondary legislation to be affected in full^[4]. The Scottish Government launched a public consultation on 24 May 2022 to collect the views and opinions on the recommendations which are likely to require legislative change. The views and opinions contained within the responses may therefore inform the Scottish Government's policy decisions on the implementation of these recommendations^[5].

This report has been prepared by Alma Economics on behalf of the Scottish Government and provides an independent summary of responses to the Scottish Government's consultation on police complaints, investigations and misconduct.