Report Summary
This report provides members of the Audit, Risk & Assurance Committee with an overview of Police Scotland's Best Value update.
To access the full document please open the PDF document above.
To view as accessible content please use the sections below. (Note that tables and some appendixes are not available as accessible content).
Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee - 17 January 2023
Date : 17 January 2023
Location : online
Introduction
Police Scotland has a duty to secure Best Value, as set out in the 2012 Act and in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM).
The Audit Scotland Annual Audit Report for 2021/22 drew attention to this duty and recommended that Police Scotland “take a systematic approach to self-evaluation and continuous improvement”.
Police Scotland has developed an approach, based on self-assessment principles, supported by (but not restricted by) toolkits that have been widely used by Audit Scotland in assessing local authorities’ Best Value performance.
Best Value assurance is vital in demonstrating that Police Scotland is optimising its use of resources; this has never been more important than now, given the current financial constraints and the levels of public scrutiny.
We are not aware of any immediate plans for scrutiny bodies to undertake a Best Value assessment of Police Scotland, however, this in no way detracts from the importance of developing this work and providing assurance to the Chief Constable. It is likely that any future scrutiny will be undertaken jointly by Audit Scotland and HMICS.
