“Prescribed persons” for whistleblowing

The Criminal Justice Committee commented as follows at paragraph 513 of its report:

“The Committee is of the view that both the PIRC and the SPA should be added as prescribed persons in UK legislation. This will provide a relevant independent third party for employees of Police Scotland and the SPA to report whistleblowing concerns to.”

For the reasons given in its written and oral evidence, the Authority supports the PIRC’s inclusion as a prescribed person in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014.

The proposal to include the PIRC as a prescribed person is based on recommendation 20 in Lady Angiolini’s final report. Lady Angiolini did not recommend that the Authority also be included as a prescribed person. Indeed, part of her rationale for including the PIRC as a prescribed person was so that staff were able to raise their concerns with an independent third party. This is important because, contrary to the Committee’s comments in paragraph 513, all staff are in fact employed by the Authority.

The Committee’s rationale for the Authority’s inclusion as a prescribed person appears to be based at least in part on HMICS’s evidence. According to the Committee’s report, HMICS said that including the Authority as a prescribed person “would bring the legislation into line with policing bodies in England and Wales.”

In England and Wales, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is a prescribed person for “matters relating to the conduct of a person serving with the police … or of any other person in relation to whose conduct the IOPC exercises functions in or under any legislation.”

Police and Crime Commissioners (whose functions are broadly like those of the Authority) are not prescribed persons under the 2014 Order. Police and Crime Panels, which are separate and distinct from PCCs, are prescribed persons, but with a much narrower remit than the IOPC.

The Authority therefore does not support the view that its inclusion as a prescribed person would bring Scotland into line with arrangements in England and Wales.

It is also worth noting the arrangements in the Republic of Ireland. Like England and Wales, the Policing Authority in Ireland is not a prescribed person under equivalent whistleblowing legislation. The prescribed person for policing in Ireland is the Garda Ombudsman, the independent complaints oversight body.

I am of course happy to comment further if the Committee wishes any further information.

Yours sincerely

Lynn Brown OBE

Chief Executive