Background & Context

In 2022 the Authority commissioned the Diffley Partnership to carry out public polling on a six-monthly basis, aligned to the Authority’s mission of overseeing Scottish policing in the public interest.

The polling exercises undertaken by the Diffley Partnership use the established ScotPulse national polling panel to gather independent, non-self-selecting and representative data for the Scottish adult population. Core questions relating to public confidence and trust in the police are asked every six months, with additional supplementary questions being asked to address topical policing issues of public interest.

The approach being taken to establish the public’s views on policing in Scotland contributes to the Authority’s vision of evidence-based policing in the public interest, by providing a large sample which is as representative as possible of the diverse profile of the Scottish population.

This paper summarises:

Public Polling Results from January 2025 – the last sweep of regular six-monthly polling work as per the current contract with the Diffley Partnership, and including thematic questions relating to biometrics in policing, awareness of local police plans, and awareness of the role of the Scottish Police Authority.

Future plans relating to polling, with a specific proposal to (a) increase the frequency of polling, (b) formalise the mechanisms through which stakeholders can input to suggestions around topical polling (c) make greater use of the Authority’s website to disseminate polling data and insights and (d) simplify the core routine polling questions based on an analysis of results from six sweeps of polling between 2022-2025.

The detailed reports for each of these pieces of work can be found in the appendices to this paper, which contain data, insights and conclusions.