Further Detail

REFRESH OF THE PEOPLE STRATEGY

The previous People Strategy aimed 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 took place throughout the delivery period of the strategy. An evaluation was undertaken with the SPA and reported to the People Committee in June 202 . It summarised the areas delivered, work ongoing, and identified considerations and opportunities to be taken into account in the refreshed People Strategy. Implementation 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.

A key feature of the refreshed People Strategy (see Appendix A) is its role in setting the strategic direction across all key areas that impact on our people. The refreshed strategy also reflects and accommodates the people-related impacts within Police Scotland’s other enabling strategies to enable colleagues to best serve the public. The strategy sets out an overarching and evidence-led approach to the support and development of our workforce and aims to inform 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 strategy has been developed across three strategic outcomes which align to the objectives set out under Outcome 4 of the Joint Strategy:

We prioritise wellbeing and keep our people safe, well equipped and protected.
We support our people to be confident leaders, innovative and active contributors and influencers.
We support our people to identify with and demonstrate Police Scotland values and have a strong sense of belonging.

Ambition set out within 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.

Police Scotland’s People Strategy has been developed collaboratively through internal and external stakeholder engagement work and feedback during the draft process. The draft People Strategy was shared with key stakeholders from 29 June onwards for initial feedback and comment by mid-July.

Groups who received a copy of the draft included:

Police Scotland Executive Team
Scottish Police Authority (Board and Officials)
People and Development
SEMPER Scotland
Disability and Carers Association (DACA)
Christian Police Association (CPA)
Scottish LGBTI Police Association
Scottish Women’s Development Forum (SWDF)
Scottish Police Muslim Association (SPMA)
Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS)
Scottish Police Federation
Unison
Unite the Union

All feedback was carefully reviewed and considered, incorporating it where appropriate into the latest version of the draft People Strategy. A later draft was shared with stakeholders on 17 October to capture additional comments or feedback, which have been reflected in the version presented for approval. An accompanying implementation plan has been developed in tandem and is attached for approval at appendix B.

REFRESH OF THE STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLAN (SWP)

The refreshed SWP (see Appendix C and C.1) articulates our workforce model looking towards 2027 and identifies and prioritises steps which can be taken which are deliverable within our current, and projected, budget. At the time of this SWP being developed, Police Scotland has a £19m forecast overspend (2023/24) and this is a key determinate in developing and prioritising actions identified in the implementation plan.

The development of this plan took a top-down strategic view, which is intended to be iterative in nature, such that it will be reviewed and adjusted in response to external and internal dynamics. It is intended that the strategic themes identified will be delivered at an organisational-wide level and integrated into People Plans at a divisional/functional level.

The underpinning principles in developing our Strategic Workforce Plan 2024-2027 were:
We are cognisant of our budget position and the plan must reflect our projected budget position.
The plan has been developed using a ‘top down’ methodology, identifying the critical strategic themes which we need to address to ensure our workforce can deliver on our strategic commitments.
The plan will be iterative in nature, to reflect the continual drivers of change (both internal and external).
The strategic themes identified can be meaningfully translated into an action plan against which progress can be measured and evidenced.

Engagement took place across the executive, Trades Unions and with statutory and diversity staff associations, with feedback taken into account as the working draft developed, along with the feedback of key colleagues and SPA representatives. The SWP was also discussed at a workshop with Members of People Committee on 20 September and feedback from Members included that they were pleased with our engagement approach so far, with some areas continuing to be the focus of ongoing engagement discussions.

ENGAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Development and engagement activity for both the Strategy and Implementation Plan was supported and overseen by a monthly People Oversight Board and a fortnightly Project Group.

The Strategy and SWP have been considered and approved by existing governance arrangements in Police Scotland. The documents were also discussed at an extraordinary People Committee on 14 November.

At People Committee it was acknowledged that the SWP and accompanying plan will be subject to further iterations given the financial and organisational context in which they have been drafted.

To enable effective oversight and assurance it is recognised that there is a need to develop high level Priority Management Indicators aligned to the refresh of the Performance Framework that can be utilised to evidence the impact of the implementation of the strategy. This will track strategic impact following implementation of the People Strategy and Strategic Workforce Plan to be reported as part of a suite of service level Priority Management Indicators; monitoring the change and impacts expected for colleagues. Police Scotland performance lead will work with SPA officers to refine Priority Management Indicators aligned to the refresh of the Force Performance Framework to go live in the new financial year and will update on progress to the SPA People Committee in February 2024.

With this recognition, subject to minor amends which have been undertaken following Member feedback, Members were content to endorse the People Strategy and SWP to table at SPA Authority meeting for approval.