Police Leadership Development Programme (PLDP) & (DPSLM)

Following the successful completion of the PLDP pilot in March 2022, two National Promotions Assessments Centres have been undertaken for Sergeants. This has resulted in two additional PLDP cohorts commencing, for Sergeants in the North (Local Policing and Specialist Departments in A, D and N Divisions) and Rural Policing (L and N Divisions). The processes were run in response to Workforce Planning needs. In the North Cohort, 48 officers were successful with 40 having been provided with Temporary Sergeant Postings. In the Rural cohort, 15 officers were successful with postings having been allocated to 13 Officers to date. Suitable postings will be provided to the remaining successful officers when available.

Monthly standardisation meetings continue to take place between Programme Tutors and Police Scotland Quality Assurance team to ensure consistency. It is evident that the standard of assessments, submitted by officers on the North and Rural cohorts, is of a high level thereby following the standard set by officers who undertook the PLDP pilot.

The pilot was subject to a rigorous evaluation process, with an end of pilot Evaluation Strategy Report submitted, for noting, to the Professionalism, Digital and Transformation Management Board (PDTMB), Corporate Finance People Board (CFPB), Senior Leadership Board (SLB) and the SPA People Committee. The report will now be submitted to the Scottish Police Consultative Forum (SPCF) for noting and thereafter returned to the PDTMB for final approval to replace the DPSLM with the PLDP.

The Evaluation Report provided 47 recommended actions and to date 46 of the actions have been addressed and will be incorporated in all future PLDP cohorts. The recommendation in respect of Action 47 (to remove the requirement for PLDP learners to undertake the First Line Managers (FLM) course) is under consideration.

During the last 6 months, the qualification content was subject to a Credit Rating process by Police Scotland Quality Assurance team who confirmed the qualification is a SQA Level 8.

Discussions have taken place between Leadership and Talent Department (L&T) and British Transport Police (BTP) with regards the inclusion of BTP officers on the PLDP. This partnership was operated on the DPSLM with a number of BTP officers successfully completing the qualification. Discussions are ongoing with regards required amendments to learning content on the PLDP.

The final two cohorts of the Diploma in Police Service Leadership and Management (DPSLM) concluded in September and October 2022 with 225 officers successfully completing the qualification.