Board Diversity

The Gender Representation on Public Boards Scotland Act 2018 sets an objective for public boards that they have 50 percent of non-executive members who are women. The Authority has worked proactively with Scottish Government, who are responsible for appointing the Board, for a number of years to improve its diversity and gender balance.

The Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 allows for Scottish Ministers to appoint up to 15 members to the SPA with a minimum of 10. The terms and appointment dates of members vary and therefore gender representation can change throughout the year. 

The Authority can confirm that as at 1 April 2024, the Gender Representation Objective of 50 percent female non-executive members is met.

Since 1 April 2021, no members have stepped down at the end of their term or resign from post early, one member passed away.

One recruitment process has been run by Public Appointments Scotland since 2021 to fill member vacancies. In January 2024, a Public Appointments campaign was launched seeking four new members. Appointments will be made in Spring 2024. 

While no appointments have been made, between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2024, six members had their appointment terms extended, four of which were female. 

The recruitment process for appointing members to the Scottish Police Authority is entirely independent of the Authority and rests with the Scottish Government’s Public Appointments Team. Information in relation to the number of applications received, the number of successful female applicants or details of any positive action steps taken to encourage applications from women will be held by the Scottish Government’s Public Appointments team.

The Authority does play a supporting role throughout the recruitment process with communication support and engagement activity to promote the vacancies and the work of the Authority.

The Authority is committed to positively engaging with the Public Appointments team in seeking to address any barriers to the appointment of a diverse Board.

We have used the data available to confirm that current representation means we have met the gender representation objective. In terms of encouraging applications our focus has been in encouraging applications from diverse groups rather than focusing solely on female appointments.

We worked with Public Appointments Scotland to launch a recent recruitment campaign for four new Board Members where it was agreed that the new board members are being sought to diversity the Board specifically with-

Experience and expertise in advocating for and influencing policy or practice for minoritised ethnic communities

Experience in the promotion and implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion practices in organisations