Report Summary
The Scottish Police Authority responded to a Scottish Government consultation on the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) Bill. This was submitted on 6 December 2024.
This should be read alongside the Authority’s additional written submission on the Bill.
This PDF document above captures the Authority's submission to a Government consultation which was conducted via an online survey.
To view as accessible content please use the sections below.
Review of, and recommendations about, practices and policies of the police
Section 15 of the Bill proposes to add a power to the 2006 Act that would enable the PIRC to make recommendations to the SPA and the Chief Constable in relation to individual complaints, as well as a power to allow the PIRC to review a practice or policy of the SPA or the Chief Constable generally, if the Commissioner thought it was in the public interest to do so. Following a review, the PIRC would be required to prepare a report. The report would also be published if the PIRC considered it appropriate to do so.
A duty would be placed on the Chief Constable and the SPA to provide a written response to any recommendations directed at them within a set time frame. Where it did not relate to an individual complaint, but instead to a review or arrangements for complaints handling more generally, a duty is placed on the Chief Constable and the SPA to provide an update on progress in implementing recommendations.
The PIRC would also be able to publish the responses to their recommendations, if they considered it appropriate to do so.
Q: What are your views on the proposals for the PIRC to review and make recommendations on the practices and policies of Police Scotland or the SPA, either in relation to a specific complaint or more generally?
A: This additional power is not dissimilar to HMICS’s existing powers to inquire, at the direction of Ministers, into “any matter relating to the Authority or the Police Service as they consider appropriate”; and to inquire into the “state, efficiency and effectiveness” of Police Scotland or the Authority (section 74(2) Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012).
It is therefore unclear what these proposed powers would add to HMICS’s existing powers. However, given that section 85 of the 2012 Act requires the PIRC to coordinate activity with HMICS to prevent unnecessary duplication of work, the Authority does not oppose this new provision.
