Report Summary
Approved Minute from the Meeting of the Scottish Police Authority held on 22 August 2024. The Minute was approved at the meeting on 26 September 2024.
Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Meeting of the Scottish Police Authority - 26 September 2024
Date : 26 September 2024
Location : Caledonian Suite, COSLA, Verity House, 19 Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh, EH12 5BH
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE QUARTERLY REPORT
Members considered the report which provided an overview of the financial position of the SPA and Police Scotland for quarter one (Q1) of the financial year 2024-25. James Gray (JGray) highlighted a number of key points as detailed in the paper.
In discussion the following matters were raised:
• The Resources Committee Chair confirmed the Committee had raised concern on capital spend and it would remain an area of focus.
• Members sought comment on how Police Scotland align workforce planning and financial planning. JGray responded that a group was set up to look at bringing budget into line last year and one of the measures taken was to pause probationer intakes. The workforce consequence of that is that there are less officers in this financial year so even more are required to be recruited during this financial year. CCFarrell added that strengthening the frontline required a reshaping of the workforce.
• LBrown advised that she had received a letter from Scottish Government regarding the current financial position. The letter referred to the financial challenges facing the Scottish Government and detailed the action expected to ensure that discretionary spend is tightened and that underspends are used for the wider financial position. LBrown committed to sharing the letter with all Members.
Members noted the report and agreed the following action:
20240822-BM-002: SPA Chief Executive to circulate letter received from Scottish Government regarding the current financial position to all Authority Members.