Police Scotland and Scottish Government meeting: June 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
• Jo Farrell, Chief Constable of Police Scotland
• Bex Smith, Deputy Chief Constable, Police Scotland
• Don McGillivray, Director of Safer Communities, Scottish Government
• Ibrahim Ojekunle, Police Division, Scottish Government (note)

Items and actions

Scottish Resilience Partnership

CC Farrell highlighted with the Cabinet Secretary changes to the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division, which aims to bring teams supporting Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) into a single unit. 

DCC Smith spoke about the importance of the review considering the support offered to RRPs, which are chaired by Assistant Chief Constables (ACCs). There was a concern that increased support may be required from responder organisations. She offered to collate feedback from ACCs on what they see as the key functions required from the support team/coordinators. 

The Cabinet Secretary noted the next national Scottish Resilience Partnership (SRP) meeting on 18 June would be an opportunity for further discussion as part of a multi-agency partnership approach to support responder organisations to meet their legal duty to plan and respond to major emergencies. 

Emma Caldwell Investigation – NPCC Request

CC Farrell spoke about the ongoing discussions with COPFS and the National Police Chief’s Council to commission a force outwith Scotland to conduct an investigation. She noted that while the required cost is yet to be decided, it is unclear where the funding for the investigation would come from. 

The Cabinet Secretary noted that any investigation would be entirely independent of Government and agreed that officials should look at the funding approach for previous investigations by outside forces.

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill

The Cabinet Secretary and CC Farrell discussed the importance of the PECSS Bill bringing about systematic and cultural change. CC Farrell stated that the Bill in its current form is promising, but there are more opportunities for change and improvement that can be achieved through secondary legislation by speeding up the process in certain cases. CC Farrell offered her support to the Scottish Government to inform policy considerations for delivering on the secondary legislation. Don McGillivray (DM) agreed to consider what was possible in terms of the timescale for secondary legislation.

Revised model of policing

The Cabinet Secretary asked for CC Farrell’s view on progress made on recruitment, officer numbers, Body Worn Video (BWV), and what support Police Scotland requires from the Scottish Government to progress further with these actions.

CC Farrell highlighted that Police Scotland is engaging with COSLA to draft a 5-year plan that will help support delivery of the revised model of policing. On recruitment, CC Farrell highlighted that an open day on 1 June was very well attended, with plans being developed for a non-residential course at Jackton to complement the residential course at Tulliallan. This is intended to both attract people for whom the residential element is a barrier and increase the overall pace of recruitment and training. The Chief Constable said that she would provide further detail on officer number projections at their next meeting on 26 June.  

CC Farrell also highlighted that the awarding of the BWV contract will be made public on 6 June. Any update of rollout plans will be made to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA). 

Criminal justice system 

The Chief Constable reiterated the importance of reforms to the justice system to improve victim experience and increase efficiency. She spoke about the value of a joint dataset between justice partners in helping to reduce the journey time within the system for victims, and in turn, a cut in officer time spent in court, often without giving evidence.

The Cabinet Secretary stated that she was seeking advice from officials on how best to engage partners to ensure a whole system approach was adopted. An update would be provided once she had received this advice and had a chance to consider it.