Report Summary
This is the Authority’s fourth Complaints and Conduct Committee annual report, which provides information and insights about numbers, performance and assurance in relation to complaints received during 2023-24.
To access the full document please open the PDF document above.
To view as accessible content please use the sections below. (Note that tables and some appendixes are not available as accessible content).
Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Complaints & Conduct Committee - 14 November 2024
Date : 14 November 2024
Location : Online
Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations & Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing
In June 2018, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Lord Advocate invited Lady Elish Angiolini to conduct an independent review on complaints against the police in Scotland.
The ‘Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing: Preliminary Report’ was published in June 2019. The ‘Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing: Final Report’ was published in November 2020.
Police Scotland are singly or jointly responsible for the majority of recommendations from the Review which are not dependent on legislative change. As at the end of 2023-24, 31 of 36 recommendations directly singly or jointly at Police Scotland had been discharged following initial assessment of evidence by HMICS and consideration via multi-agency national governance arrangements. 7 of 11 recommendations directed singly or jointly at the SPA have similarly been discharged.
Alongside action taken to discharge recommendations directed at wider partners, significant progress has been made across themes of audit & review; efficiency & effectiveness; equality, diversity & inclusion; governance & accountability; rights & ethics; training & HR; and transparency & accessibility. Further detail is available via the Scottish Government website where thematic progress reports are being published (the latest edition dates to May 2023).
At the time of writing, a number of those remaining recommendations, not dependent on legislative change, and for which the SPA and/or Police Scotland are responsible, are ready for submission for consideration of potential discharge, subject to a further cycle of governance being scheduled.
In respect of recommendations from the Review requiring, or likely to require, legislative change or new legislation, following public consultation during 2021-22, the Scottish Government introduced its corresponding Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill to Parliament in June 2023. In September 2023, issued a call for views, following which it considered oral evidence, including from the Authority and Police Scotland, as part of its Stage 1 examination of the Bill. In July 2024, the Committee published its resulting report, to which the Authority and Police Scotland have issued formal responses. The Bill is likely to come into force in 2025, with associated regulations, including revised Conduct Regulations, to follow thereafter.
