Who We Are

The Scottish Police Authority is independent of both the Scottish Government and policing. It is the primary governance body for policing in Scotland, and was established as a public body on 1 April 2013 by the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. It was set up to hold the Chief Constable to account; promote, support and oversee improvement in policing. It is also responsible for the management and delivery of Forensic Services in Scotland and Independent Custody Visiting Scotland.

In this section, find out more about the Authority’s priorities, the Board and the Leadership team.

Who We Are

What We Do

The Scottish Police Authority is responsible for maintaining policing. It has four specific areas of responsibility:

promoting the policing principles

supporting continuous improvement

keeping policing under review

holding the Chief Constable to account.

This section tells you in outline what the Authority does.

What We Do

News

The Scottish Police Authority communicates regularly about our role, activities and oversight of policing in Scotland.

You can find all our latest news articles listed in date order. You can also search these by topic or year.

Showing 1 to 7 of 7 results

SPA Custody Review 2020-21 Published

Published: 07 February 2023

Evidence

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Human Rights policing focus of Advisory Group ‘Added Confidence’

Published: 03 February 2023

Evidence

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Policing of protests and gatherings "professional and proportionate"

Published: 03 February 2023

Performance Evidence

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SPA evidence to Justice Sub Committee on drones and body worn video

Published: 02 February 2023

Technology Evidence

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Latest factsheet on public confidence polling

Published: 18 April 2023

Evidence

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High public trust in Scottish policing

Published: 18 April 2023

Evidence

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Independent Custody Visiting Scotland Covid 19 update

Published: 18 April 2023

Workforce Evidence

View Article

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News

SPA Custody Review 2020-21 Published

Human Rights policing focus of Advisory Group ‘Added Confidence’

Policing of protests and gatherings "professional and proportionate"

SPA evidence to Justice Sub Committee on drones and body worn video

Latest factsheet on public confidence polling

High public trust in Scottish policing

Independent Custody Visiting Scotland Covid 19 update