Lady Angiolini – Review Recommendations

Recommendation 29 - “The SPA Complaints and Conduct Committee should hold Police Scotland to account for delays in investigations into complaints and misconduct. Where there is evidence of excessive delays in PIRC investigations impacting on policing in Scotland the Committee should raise the matter with the Commissioner.”

The Committee now receives information to support scrutiny of the timescales associated with investigations into complaints and misconduct. The information includes:

• Overall average complaint closure timescales.
• Proportion of complaint cases resolved at frontline within 56 days.
• Proportion of non-criminal complaint cases closed within 56 days (or within wider time limits thereafter).
• Overall average timescales for completion of officer misconduct investigations.
• Overall average timescales for completion of officer misconduct proceedings.More detailed breakdown of timescales linked to ongoing cases involving suspension or restriction of duty, with explanation of status.

The Committee has received improved information and there is clear evidence of progress against this recommendation. However, the Committee are not yet satisfied that there is effective data in relation to timescales that would discharge fully this recommendation. For example, at the end of Quarter 3 the year-to-date position for 2023/24 reporting period shows:

• Complaint cases were taking an average of 225 days to complete.
• 7% of cases were being closed within the 56 days.

The Committee recognises that some complaints can be complex in nature. However, it is concerned that 14% of cases closed to date during 2023/24 experienced excessive delays (in excess of 12-months). Police Scotland will provide the Committee with information and an explanation for any complaint case not completed within 12 months.

PIRC also provides quarterly reports to the Committee on the timeliness of its own processes, which are also published in its 2022-2023 Annual Report:

• 80% of investigations completed within 3 months.
• 80% of complaint handling reviews completed within 4 months of receipt.

The PIRC also reports on timescales for the provision of information requested of Police Scotland in relation to complaint handling reviews. There has been an improvement in the time it takes to provide information to PIRC year on year from 2020-21. Police Scotland is on track to reduce this further in 2023-24.

Recommendation 79 - “The Scottish Police Authority Complaints and Conduct Committee should scrutinise Police Scotland's performance in dealing with complaints and hold the service to account where the targets are not being achieved.”

The Committee receives and reviews:

• Complaint handling timescales.
• Upper and lower confidence limits in respect of normal complaint volumes, to enable scrutiny of any significant variation.
• Complaint volumes by each Division/Department.
• Allegation categories.
• Reporting in relation to allegations of discriminatory behaviour.
• Reporting on upheld complaints with information on common allegation categories/sub-categories.
• Trend analysis.

The Committee has required the service to set out targets and timelines for completing key stages of the complaint handling process.

The Committee has asked the Authority’s staff to benchmark public reporting on police complaint handling in other UK jurisdictions.

Recommendation 59 - “In order to ensure public confidence in the police, the SPA should confirm each year in its annual report whether or not in its view, based on an informed assessment by the Complaints and Conduct Committee and evidence from the relevant audits, the Chief Constable has suitable complaint handling arrangements in place.”

The Authority has included a statement in its Annual Report for the periods 2021-22[1]  and 2022-23[2]. The Committee reports “evidence of progress” which has been informed by input from PIRC in relation to ‘relevant complaints’ and an assessment of:

• The introduction (in 2021) of a new national complaint handling operating model.
• The provision of data contained in Police Scotland’s quarterly and annual assurance reports to Committee.
• PIRC Complaint Handling Review outcomes (in 2022-23, 74% of CHRs were assessed as ‘reasonably handled’ – the highest recorded figure to date).
• The findings of an initial joint SPA/PIRC audit on the triage of complaints.
• Progress in discharging non-legislative recommendations arising from the review.

The Committee will further improve its assessment of Police Scotland’s complaint handling arrangements for 2023-24, due to:

• Improved data analysis and insight in year.
• The reintroduction of random case sampling of closed cases.
• The forthcoming reporting on the findings of a further PIRC-led audit in respect of the six-stage complaint process outlined in its statutory guidance.

The Authority now publishes an annual, detailed report on the business of the Complaints & Conduct Committee (2022-23 report). Reports to date have focussed on the Committee’s oversight of ‘relevant complaints’. Future reports will be expanded to include oversight of misconduct cases for example.

[1] Page 53-54

[2] Page 48-49