Police Negotiating Board for Scotland meeting: October 2023

Attendees and apologies

Chair

Lisa Blackett, Independent 

Official Side    

David Algie, Official Side Secretariat
Lynn Brown, Police Scotland 
Stuart Houston, Police Scotland
Ewen Logie, Police Scotland
John MacLean, Scottish Police Authority
Fiona McQueen, Scottish Police Authority
Sarah Messenger, Official Side Secretary
David Page, Police Scotland
Jane Ryder, Scottish Police Authority
Graham Thomson, Scottish Government
Kevin Wilkie, Scottish Government

Staff Side

Stewart Carle, Association of Scottish Police Superintendents
Lorna Cunningham, Scottish Police Federation
Rob Hay, Association of Scottish Police Superintendents
David Kennedy, Staff Side Secretary
James McLaren, Scottish Police Federation
Chris Sewell, Association of Scottish Police Superintendents

Secretariat

Scott McNeil, Independent

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and members gave brief introductions. 

Minutes from previous meeting of the PNB on 22 June 2023

Members approved the minute of the PNB meeting.

Matters arising

No matters raised.

Pay agreement 2023

The Staff Side and Official Side recorded their thanks to all members for their work in reaching agreement on pay for 2023/24.

Official and Staff Side representatives have met to discuss principles ahead of commissioning research into police officer pay and benefits, which formed part of the pay agreement. Once agreed with members, the Sides will issue a joint letter to the Chair outlining proposals for next steps.

The Chair thanked the Official Side, Staff Side and previous Chair for all their efforts and commitment to reaching an agreement. 

Technical Working Group (TWG) report

The next meeting of the full TWG is pencilled in for 24 November. Sub-group meetings have taken place since the last PNB.

A key action for the group has been the implementation of the 2023/24 pay agreement to ensure officers receive their backdated pay increase in good time. Members confirmed officers would receive this in their October salary and thanked everyone for their work to turn this around quickly.

To ensure all Sides understand the process for implementing pay agreements in the future, the Official Side will provide the steps in writing to the Staff Side. 

Equalities Working Group (EWG) report

The group have not met in the previous year, however equalities issues have been discussed at the TWG. Members agreed that the operation of the working groups should feed into discussions on the PNBS guide.

Regulations and determinations 

The Scottish Government acknowledged that there was a backlog in regulations and determinations. This is now a priority for the Scottish Government who are looking to develop a timetable to enable the backlog to be cleared by summer 2024 which will be shared with the Sides.

Pensions update 

Members noted the written pensions update provided by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA). 

Secretariat noted that the SPPA have offered to attend PNBS to aid discussions in the future.

PNBS guide update / update on launch of PNBS and implications

Members agreed to the Chair’s  proposal to set up and chair a working group to review how the PNBS works, and ensure any proposed changes to the group and outcomes continue to meet the needs of stakeholders. The Chair noted this will tie in with the PNBS Guide, which Scottish Government officials have been leading on.

Members also agreed on the need to update PNBS logos. The Scottish Government are leading on this and will share proposals with the group once received.

The Chair will contact members to gather initial views and invite members to join the working group, with meetings held online. The Chair aims to bring draft proposals to the next meeting of the PNBS in February and reach agreement on any proposed changed by April.

Any other business

Staff and Official Side Secretaries both put on record their thanks to the new Chair and that that they are looking forward to working with the Chair in the future.

Date of next meeting

Secretariat will be in touch with proposed dates for 2024 PNBS meetings within the next two weeks.