Strategy Refresh Approach

Police Scotland’s Strategic Planning Framework and our joint strategic outcomes provide a golden thread from Scottish Government’s outcomes and priorities through Police Scotland’s strategies, plans and performance reporting, enabling us to demonstrate alignment and clearly articulate our ambitions and progress.                

There is clear alignment across the objectives under Strategic Outcome 4 of the Joint Strategy for Policing (2020) – policing for a safe, protected and resilient Scotland – which sets out our commitment to ensure our people are supported through a positive working environment, supporting them to serve the public. 

The previous People Strategy was launched in 2018 to empower, enable and develop our people. Aligned to the previous long term strategy, it set out our plans to support our people to deliver ‘excellence in service and protection’ and build a modern workforce to meet future demands placed on Scottish policing.

The strategy was supported by significant levels of activity and regular, reporting on progress made has been in place throughout the delivery period of the strategy.  An evaluation was undertaken with the SPA and reported to the People Committee in June 2022[1]. It summarised the areas delivered, work ongoing, and identified considerations and opportunities to be taken into account in developing the refreshed People Strategy.

The backdrop to the delivery of the first People Strategy was marked by a series of unprecedented events, many of which placed additional demands upon policing and necessitated swift adaptation.  Where and how we work has changed significantly, alongside the expectations and requirements of our people.

As work progresses to refresh the People Strategy continued flexibility for colleagues as well as organisational agility to respond to challenges and opportunities on the horizon will be critical, as well as understanding and providing effective organisational responses to the evolving demographics within society.

Throughout 2022, Police Scotland developed a number of strategy and planning products, including Policing Together – our first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy. Policing Together articulates work underway develop a culture which reflects its values of integrity, fairness, respect and commitment to upholding human rights. The strategy makes very clear that discrimination has no place in policing, outlining the action Police Scotland will take to champion equality and inclusion.

The refreshed People Strategy will in part reflect the priorities set out within Policing Together, particularly as it relates to delivering a supportive and inclusive organisational culture our people need to flourish and thrive with the knowledge they are welcome and valued for their true and authentic selves. Our continued focus on wellbeing will be reflected throughout and will build on the work and insights being gathered and overseen through the Your Safety Matters Diamond Oversight Group.

It will also be critical for the refreshed strategy to reflect and accommodate the people related impacts within Police Scotland’s other enabling strategies – Cyber, Public Contact and Engagement, DDICT, Estates, Fleet and Environment - to enable colleagues to best serve the public.

A key feature of the next iteration of the People Strategy will be its role in setting the strategic direction across all key areas that impact on our people. The Strategy will set out an overarching and evidence led approach to the support and development of our workforce and will guide a series of strategic documents and implementation plans across associated areas. These documents will explain in greater detail the commitments of the service and timescales for delivery and where appropriate the specific evidence base underpinning those commitments. The direction of travel set in the People Strategy will guide areas such as leadership development, learning and development, pay and reward, align with Policing Together in relation to culture and values, and will ultimately inform our strategic planning to build a future workforce for the service to meet evolving needs.

The key areas where the strategy will set strategic direction for our people is set out below:

Strategic Workforce Planning, Learning and Development, Leadership Development, Policing Together Implementation, Pay and Reward and Wellbeing. 

The future direction of the workforce will also be explained at strategic level within this strategy, based on the strategic workforce assessment and related work underway. A strategic workforce plan, being developed for 2024, will provide further detail on implementation.