By Craig Naylor
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland
When I first joined Lothian and Borders Police as a young recruit almost 40 years ago, I’ll admit that I would have given little – if any – thought to the force’s strategic direction or whether it was demonstrating continuous improvement.
What mattered to me most was whether I was working with a team of people who were suitably trained to do the job we were being asked to do, that I was working alongside the right number of people, and that we had the right uniform, equipment and any other support we needed to help us keep people safe – ourselves included.
Four decades on, those same things that were so important to me as a young officer are at the heart of everything I do in my role as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland.
I want every Police Scotland officer and every member of police staff to be highly skilled, with the best possible training to meet the requirements of their role.
I want officer numbers on every shift, in every unit and department, to be at the right level.
I want all officers and staff to have access to not just uniform and equipment that is high-quality, comfortable and effective, but the technology they need to help them too.
I want the buildings they work in to be fit for purpose.
My list goes on and on – all focused on providing the public with a high-quality policing service designed to catch criminals, prevent crime and ensure public and community safety.
Those things that mattered to me 40 years ago haven’t changed. However, policing has.
Policing can never stand still. It must constantly adapt to new forms of crime, evolving societal demands, and the changing nature of threat, harm and risk.
In the past, the transformation of policing in Scotland has not been well managed or delivered at pace.
That’s where best value plays such an important role.
“I want every Police Scotland officer and every member of police staff to be highly skilled, with the best possible training to meet the requirements of their role”
Best value shouldn’t be confused with ‘value for money’. In the simplest terms, best value is about change.
It’s about ensuring that as an organisation goes through transformation and change, it has a firm focus on improvement, and that it’s delivering the best possible outcomes for the public.
It’s about ensuring good governance and an effective management of resources.
To measure these, our joint inspection sought to answer four vital questions:
- Does policing have a clear strategic direction?
- How effective is policing’s partnership working?
- How well is policing performing and demonstrating continuous improvement?
- And how effectively are resources used to deliver policing?
What we found was that policing in Scotland is well managed, well led, has a clear vision and senior leaders who work well together.
We found lots of improvement activity was taking place, and that financial management and partnership working is strong.
But there’s more to do, especially around managing the current workforce now and into the future.
We found no evidence that 16,500 officers and 5,900 staff is the right number. Workforce planning remains underdeveloped.
Absence is high and 14 per cent of officers are on modified duties, with nine per cent of all officers not deployable at all.
Our joint inspection team also found current performance reporting cannot show if policing is achieving its strategic goals.
Police Scotland has been on a journey of transformation and change since it was formed in 2013.
And that transformation affects every single officer and member of police staff.
It includes ensuring Police Scotland is equipped with the latest technology and digital assets, with recent examples such as the implementation of digital evidence sharing capability, and the rollout of body-worn cameras.
It includes transforming the current police estate, which Police Scotland admits is unsustainable.
And of course, the transformation and change we are talking about includes looking at the size of workforce and skills required.
Public trust in policing remains high but confidence in local policing has declined.
In our report with Audit Scotland, we made seven recommendations for improvement.
We have advised Police Scotland to put enhanced arrangements in place to better manage workforce absence and modified duties, so that workforce resilience and wellbeing is improved.
We’ve advised that as a minimum, in the next 12 months, Police Scotland should update its strategic workforce plan to include the capacity and skills required to deliver its strategic outcomes and manage future service demands.
And we’ve said that the Scottish Police Authority’s next Strategic Police Plan, due later this year, should clearly set out the overall direction and priorities for policing, and be outcome-focused, specific and measurable.