Section 1 - SPA Corporate

Please describe how your organisation has had regard to island communities in carrying out its functions.

The Authority’s main statutory functions as set out in Section 2 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 are to:

Maintain the Police Service of Scotland.

Promote the statutory policing principles.

Promote and support continuous improvement in the policing of Scotland.

Keep the policing of Scotland under review.

Hold the Chief Constable to account for the policing of Scotland.

We continue to improve our approach to consideration of island communities in both our strategic decision-making and policy development and review. We are also working to improve our oversight of Police Scotland’s responsibilities in this area.

The Joint Strategy for Policing and Local Police Plans

The Joint Strategy for Policing 2023 was approved by the Authority in May 2023. An accessible Gaelic language version of the plan is also available. The alignment of strategic direction, priorities for policing, planning and performance assessment is articulated in this Plan. Outcomes 2 and 3 of this plan commit to addressing the needs of local communities through effective service delivery and that the public, communities and partners are engaged, involved and have confidence in policing.

The objectives that underpin these outcomes recognise that policing must continue to be responsive to all forms of community, including islands. By doing so, services will continue to evolve and be designed to meet the needs of individuals and communities, building a safe and confident society for them to thrive, creating real participation and genuine partnerships between the police and the community.

Flowing from the Joint Strategy for Policing, Local Policing Plans provide a clear statement about the commitment to developing services and addressing priorities that are of particular importance in specific areas. The priorities are decided by data and also feedback from local authorities, partners, and residents in the Your Police survey. There are Local Policing Plans for various island communities recognising their unique policing needs and priorities.

Local scrutiny and accountability

In April 2023, the Authority published a new strategic partnership agreement between COSLA, Police Scotland and the Authority. This sets out four key priority areas to strengthen collaboration between Local Government and policing in the years ahead. The first of these is local scrutiny and accountability. This recognises that policing is delivered by a national service, delivered locally and it is key that services continue to evidence our focus on local priorities. Open and transparent local public community engagement and effective scrutiny of policing by elected members play an important role in setting priorities and measuring impact of local policing. Linked to this, the Authority published a public briefing on Police Scrutiny in Scotland in August 2023. This provides an overview of current arrangements and context for policing scrutiny at a local, regional and national level in Scotland. Local oversight promotes community engagement and fosters positive relationships. Different areas, including islands, have unique policing needs and priorities. Local oversight encourages the development of policing strategies that are tailored to address local issues and needs.

Independent Custody Visiting Scheme

The Authority monitors the welfare of people detained in police custody using a team of Independent Custody Visitors. These are volunteers, drawn from local communities.

Although throughput is smaller, the Authority makes annual visits, sometimes more regularly, to the islands to visit custody suites to ensure the welfare conditions of those held in custody on the islands.

Specialist resources

The Authority expects national equity to specialist policing resources. For example, the Authority sought assurance around the roll out of Police Scotland’s Taser Hubs and additional Specially Trained Officers to the islands and rural areas. An update to the Authority’s Policing Performance Committee in December 2023 provided a divisional breakdown of specially trained officers and a map showing the location of taser hubs.

Authority staff have also been working with the Air Support Team to ensure their future strategy considers drone hubs on islands to ensure national equity.

Impact Assessment

During 22-23 the Authority implemented an integrated impact assessment approach to improve our delivery of the range of public body duties. This includes our approach to due regard for island communities in carrying out our functions and work to embed the framework continued throughout 2023-24. The Authority shared this framework with Police Scotland and other blue light partners to support work towards compliance.

Forward look

Revised Model for Policing Oversight Group

Police Scotland is developing a revised model for policing to ensure the Service can adapt to evolving societal needs and challenges, meet budgetary requirements, and make best use of available human and financial resources. The Authority has set up a dedicated ‘Revised Model for the Policing of Scotland Oversight Group’ to monitor and track progress in developing the new model. The Oversight Group will report regularly to the Authority’s Board. The Group will seek assurance on key areas, such as the impact of the new model on the organisation’s people, public services, stakeholders and partners, is appropriately evidenced and understood. The Authority will advocate for Police Scotland to undertake Island and Community impact assessments for all major change initiatives where appropriate.

Self-assessment of Public Body Duty compliance

During 2023-24, SPA Corporate completed a self-assessment of our public body duty requirements and made improvement recommendations to strengthen compliance. This included a recommendation to work with Police Scotland further around processes and compliance with the duty to give due regard to island communities and to carry out Island Community Impact Assessments where necessary. A strategic lead with responsibility for Islands Impact Assessments has been appointed and this work is a feature of our delivery plan for 2024-25.

Estates Strategy

The Authority is expecting a revised estates strategy and implementation plan during 2024/25 from Police Scotland where we will consider the Islands Act.