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

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

Published: 12 September 2022

Publication Audit Risk and Assurance Committee

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Audit & Improvement Recommendations Tracker – 28 January 2021

Published: 12 September 2022

Publication Audit Risk and Assurance Committee

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Independent Review of Complaints Handling, SPA Update - 31 May 2022

Published: 12 September 2022

Publication Complaints and Conduct Committee

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Publication Library

SPA Audit & Improvement Recommendations Update - 28 January 2021

SPA Audit & Improvement Recommendations Update - 5 May 2021

Audit & Improvement Recommendations Tracker – 5 May 2021

SPA Audit & Improvement Recommendations Update - 15 July 2021

Audit & Improvement Recommendations Tracker – 15 July 2021

HMICS Recommendations – SPA Update - 15 July 2021

Police Scotland – Progress with HMICS Recommendations - 15 July 2021

HMICS Thematic Inspection of Hate Crime - 15 July 2021

Information Commissioners Report: SPA progress update - 5 May 2021

Thematic Inspection of SPA Progress Update - 28 January 2021

Audit & Improvement Recommendations Tracker – 28 January 2021

Independent Review of Complaints Handling, SPA Update - 31 May 2022