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

Complaints

Are you dissatisfied with the service you have received from policing in Scotland?

The Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland and the Police Investigations and Reviews Commissioner (PIRC) all have a role to play in considering complaints about policing in Scotland.

In this section, find out who to direct your complaint to. We also welcome written communication in Gaelic (see our Gaelic Language Plan).

Complaints

Publication Library

The Authority is committed to conducting its activity in an open and transparent manner, and in a way that builds trust and confidence in policing.

In this section we aim to make as much of our information as possible available, accessible and searchable. Our publication scheme summarises all of the information we publish. This aims to improve public access to the information we hold and encouraging public awareness of, and participation in, the decisions we make.

Where possible we provide a suitable HTML alternative and / or make documents accessible. Please contact us if you would like to request a corporate publication in an alternative format.

Scottish Police Authority - Publication Scheme

Committee

Topic

Revised SPA Complaint Handling Procedures - 1 March 2023

Published: 11 April 2023

Published: 07 October 2022

Publication

View Publication

Review of Complaints Handling, Police Scotland Update - 18 November 2020

Published: 07 September 2022

Publication Complaints and Conduct Committee

View Publication

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Publication Library

Revised SPA Complaint Handling Procedures - 1 March 2023

Dip Sampling of Police Scotland Complaints - 1 March 2023

PIRC Quarterly report on Police Scotland Handling of Complaints and Investigation Referrals - 15 November 2022

Independent Review of Complaints Handling in Relation to Policing - SPA Update - 25 November 2021

Independent Review of Complaints Handling in Relation to Policing - SPA Update - 19 August 2021

Complaints & Conduct Committee Annual Report - 19 August 2021

Independent Review of Complaints Handling in Relation to Policing - SPA Update - 19 May 2021

Independent Review of Complaints Handling in Relation to Policing – Police Scotland Update - 3 March 2021

Review of Complaints Handling in Relation to Policing – SPA Update - 3 March 2021

FOI 2022-044 - Cost and number of Criminal Justice profiles completed - 2018-2022

FOI 2022-026 - Police Scotland complaint procedure - Information not held by SPA

Review of Complaints Handling, Police Scotland Update - 18 November 2020