Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this Committee is to provide oversight and scrutiny of continuous improvement in policing. It will do this through scrutinising policing performance against agreed strategies, plans and statutory requirements. The Committee will seek to continuously improve the way in which policing performance is measured and reported. The Committee will also consider any proposed changes to operational policing deployments which may have particular public interest, ethical or human rights implications. The Committee will provide advice and assurance to the Board on these matters and any other specific items which the Chair, Board or Chief Executive requests of it, including in relation to public- facing service delivery aspects of policing.

Meetings will be used to:

• (Approve the Policing Performance Framework and related enhancements, and oversee the development and improvement of the policing performance framework, ensuring that it is aligned with the policing strategy, annual police plans and statutory requirements including the policing principles and ethical standards; that it applies best practice in measuring and reporting the achievement of outcomes; that it is based on robust and meaningful data; and that it considers the views of stakeholders.
• Review the performance of policing using the performance framework, and in particular review quarterly performance reports in advance of their consideration at the Board.
• Review progress in relation to the implementation of performance improvement activities where these arise from recommendations contained in inspection and/or audit reports.
• Examine the performance analysis and overview section of the Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts, in order to provide assurance to the Board that it contains an appraisal of performance of the Authority and Police Scotland in working towards the objectives within the Strategic Police Plan, the arrangements in the Annual Police Plan, statutory requirements including the policing principles, and ethical standards.
• Consider significant proposed changes, in consultation with the Chair or at the request of the Board, to operational policing which may have particular public interest, ethical or human rights implications; ensure that the associated risks and opportunities have been fully assessed, that the views of relevant stakeholders have been considered, and that the impact on communities and protected characteristic groups as defined in the Equality Act 2010 have been properly taken into account.
• In carrying out its functions, consider relevant data and research available in relation to policing which would assist in benchmarking Police Scotland’s performance against appropriate comparators across the UK and internationally.
• Ensure reporting on the arrangements for, and feedback on custody from, the volunteers within the Independent Custody Visiting in Scotland (ICVS) scheme is carried out publicly at least twice per year, including publication of the Authority's annual review of ICVS.
• Consider such other matters as required by the Board.