Vetting

When an individual applies to join the Scottish Police Authority or Police Scotland in any role, relevant background checks are conducted by the Force Vetting Unit, which involve researching a wide range of information on the applicant, including third parties and associates. A thorough and effective vetting process is a key component in assessing an individual’s honesty and integrity. By identifying those who might pose a risk, vetting acts to prevent crime or harm and to protect members of the public against improper conduct by people working for, on behalf of, or in partnership with the Authority or Police Scotland. The process reassures the public that appropriate checks are conducted on individuals in positions of trust and supports public confidence. It also ensures there are no conflicts of interest which could adversely impact the ability of the individual to discharge their policing duties effectively and impartially.

There are a number of vetting types which reflect the requirements of different roles, and the process is undertaken in line with the Police Scotland Vetting Manual of Guidance, which is largely mirrored on the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice and Code of Conduct for vetting in England and Wales.

The vetting process is fair and proportionate in that thorough and careful consideration is given to whether any risks can be managed or not in respect of granting clearance. The degree of proximity with family members and associates will be a consideration. However, there may be occasions where the risk of reputational damage and negative impact on public confidence through association cannot be managed.

Vetting is by its very nature, an intrusive process. In order to ensure vetting officers are equipped to carefully consider the varied and diverse range of issues they may encounter, they are trained to ensure that they are culturally aware and treat each applicant’s circumstances individually and sensitively. Every aspect of the process is objective, professional and non-judgemental.

In 2023-24, Police Scotland considered 7,950 vetting applications, of which 743 (9.3%) were refused (compared to 8.6% of 6,843 applications in 2022-23).

Vetting Improvements

In June 2023, the Committee received a report from Police Scotland in which it advised that, over the previous 12 months, it had refined its approach and added additional safeguards to the vetting process. Recognising the fundamental role vetting plays in keeping the public safe, it had also enhanced capacity within its vetting department, ensuring that it was able to keep abreast of growing demand whilst continuing to develop and grow processes, benchmarking and learning from outcomes from other police forces.

Prior to taking their oath of office to become probationary constables, individuals are now subject to a reaffirmation process to ensure that any changes in personal circumstances since their initial vetting are declared and risk assessed. Where it is subsequently deemed that the individual is not suitable to become a police officer, steps are taken immediately to remove their vetting and offer of appointment.

Police Scotland has additionally reviewed its tolerance levels in respect of areas of risk such as finances and associations and have taken on board improvements and recommendations arising from the HMICFRS Inspection into Vetting, Conduct and Misogyny in police forces in England and Wales.

The report also outlined further planned improvements. This included a review of the organisation’s designated posts list (i.e. posts with access to sensitive information, intelligence, financial or operational assets) and plans to introduce a process of renewals of recruitment vetting across the workforce.

During discussions (in June 2023, and earlier in March 2023), the Committee recognised the limitations of vetting and the importance of other controls to address risk to ensure public confidence. Police Scotland acknowledged that it is not a single solution, and that they were taking forward wider action as part of its Preventions and Professionalism Programme (see below). 

Monitoring Vetting Outcome Proportionality

Having heard concerns suggesting disproportionate vetting outcomes for applicants from an ethnic minority background, and noting the former Chief Constable’s statement in respect of institutional discrimination, Members sought assurance from Police Scotland that specific community group applications were not being excluded, with a resulting report presented to the Committee in February 2024.

The report confirmed that vetting application forms do not currently ask for protected characteristic or diversity data for the purposes of vetting as it is not relevant for decision making and risk assessment, nor is there any requirement contained within the Vetting Manual of Guidance to monitor this type of data for disproportionality purposes. This is in contrast to England and Wales, where police forces must monitor vetting applications, at all levels, against protected characteristics to understand whether there is any disproportionate impact on particular groups and, where disproportionality is identified, take positive steps to address this, while maintaining the safeguards that vetting provides. The report noted that work was ongoing within the College of Policing to develop and introduce new vetting application forms which will specifically ask for protected characteristic information from applicants and explain why, encouraging people to provide the data; and that it was the intention of Police Scotland to adopt the new vetting forms in their entirety when available.

Police Scotland were able, however, to undertake an analysis based on diversity data separately collected during the recruitment process and covering the period from December 2021. Whilst this showed that the percentage of vetting approvals was in fact slightly higher for ethnic minority applicants, Police Scotland committed to monitoring statistics on an ongoing basis going forward.

Whilst Members welcomed future reporting in this regard, they have also requested a joint deep-dive with the People Committee, with a view to understanding analysis of any disproportionality of outcome within the recruitment process more generally (not limited to vetting) and considering other protected characteristics as well as race.

Historic Data Wash

In February 2023 following the high-profile arrests of police officers in the Metropolitan Police for Murder, Rape and Domestic Offences, the UK Home Office announced that all forces in England and Wales would undertake retrospective vetting checks on their existing workforce. Whilst policing in Scotland is devolved, at the February 2023 Authority meeting Police Scotland committed to also undertaking this exercise (and reporting to the Committee on findings), as well as introducing a range of other improvements to vetting processes. The exercise also included SPA employees. Members also expressed an interest in understanding how outputs in Scotland compared to those in England and Wales.

UK-wide results were published in January 2024, with a high-level public report presented to Committee in February. 73 issues were identified which were referred to the Professional Standards Department Gateway Unit for triage. Of those, 3 officers and 2 staff were required to undergo an Advice & Guidance Briefing or submit a Notifiable Association Form; 3 volunteers were subject to a vetting review which subsequently remained in place; and 1 member of staff was subject to further criminal investigation and suspended from duty. Members heard that the exercise did not highlight any sexual matters of concern.

HMICS Assurance Review

In January 2023, HMICS published a terms of reference for its Organisational Culture Thematic Inspection, which included commitment to assure the quality of vetting and renewals, and whether these effectively identify potential misconduct. However, it was subsequently determined that this would be the subject of a separate, earlier review, given its importance and scale.

A resulting report was published in October 2023 and presented by HMICS at the November 2023 Committee, where it was welcomed by both Members and Police Scotland. HMICS praised the work of the Police Scotland vetting team in working effectively in line with current vetting arrangements, acknowledging that Police Scotland were still dealing with the legacy of reform in terms of vetting undertaken prior to the establishment of Police Scotland, as well as the current absence of clear legislative provision in respect of individuals who fail to maintain minimum vetting clearance.

Police Scotland presented its action plan in response to the review to the June 2024 Committee. Members welcomed the plan, which outlined actions and associated timescales to address formal recommendations (which HMICS will formally discharge upon satisfactory completion), as well as identified areas for development (which will be for the Committee to oversee). During discussion, HMICS commented positively on work taken forward by Police Scotland to date and welcomed the risk-based approach adopted within the plan. However, they expressed some concern around potential delay linked to actions dependent on a review of vetting guidance in use within England and Wales. The Committee will continue to seek assurance on delivery against the plan through regular assurance reporting.