Illustration by Kimberly Carpenter

Notebook: Scotland’s police and justice news

  • UK ministers haven’t asked Police Scotland about radical plan to cut forces

  • Police cars slapped with parking tickets

  • Force wants to stop officers transporting abnormal loads

By 1919 staff

Notebook: Scotland’s police and justice news

  • UK ministers haven’t asked Police Scotland about radical plan to cut forces

  • Police cars slapped with parking tickets

  • Force wants to stop officers transporting abnormal loads

Illustration by Kimberly Carpenter

No attempt by Westminster to seek advice on reducing forces

The UK Government has made no written contact with Police Scotland to seek advice on its contentious plans to reduce the number of forces down south.

Ministers announced plans earlier this year to slash the number of forces from 43 to between 10 and 20, in one of the most radical public sector shake-ups in decades.

Police Scotland underwent a similar process when it absorbed eight legacy forces into one in 2013.

However, despite being the only UK example of such far-reaching reform, Westminster has not sought any advice from north of the border.

A response to a 1919 freedom of information request to Police Scotland stated: “There is no correspondence held which specifically relates to the reduction in the number of forces.”

Blue on blue meanies

Police Scotland vehicles have been issued with 35 parking fines in the past year, it has emerged.

Fleet cars received tickets from 18 private operators and a further 17 from local authority wardens.

All fines were paid immediately, the force confirmed, although two were subsequently rescinded on appeal.

The associated administrative cost of monitoring and processing the penalty charge notices are not recorded.

FLOs to step back from road deaths

Road deaths will not necessarily be accompanied by the deployment of a family liaison officer (FLO) in Scotland under new policy guidelines.

An audit report has revealed the policy of always sending an FLO when a driving fatality has occurred has been reviewed.

“It was concluded that it is not prudent to hold the premise that each fatal incident requires an FLO deployment,” the strategy states.

It added: “Police Scotland is committed to ensure that those impacted by a fatal road collision are provided with signposting and referrals to relevant support services.”

Police IT equipment lost or stolen

Hundreds of computers, laptops and memory sticks belonging to Police Scotland have been lost or stolen in the last five years, new figures have shown.

A total of 168 IT items were reported missing last year, the highest figure since 2020, with numbers rising gradually each year since then.

In total, 651 incidents were recorded over a five-year period.

The statistics were released by the force under freedom of information legislation.

Shedding the load

Senior officers have been in talks with the Scottish Government about a different agency taking responsibility for transporting abnormal loads.

Cops spend thousands of hours each year ensuring large items such as materials for windfarms and construction sites can move safely, especially along rural roads.

1919 has learned the force approached ministers prior to the Holyrood election to discuss “a legislative change that will allow the escorting of abnormal loads in Scotland to be carried out by another agency”.

However, while the plea was acknowledged, a memo stated: “It is not anticipated that any significant change will occur in the short term.”

Gray to hold justice brief

Scotland has a new justice secretary following a reshuffle brought on by the Holyrood election.

Neil Gray, who spent the previous two years as health secretary, moves into the seat and succeeds Angela Constance.

With the parliament more fragmented, Gray will now face a number of justice spokespeople on the opposing benches.

In main opposition will be Labour’s Pauline McNeill, the only spokesperson to retain the brief, and newcomer Reform MSP Amanda Bland.

The Greens – who surged to 15 MSPs in the May vote – had yet to name their spokespeople at the time of writing, with the same true of the Liberal Democrats.

For the Conservatives, Stephen Kerr replaces Liam Kerr, who has moved to energy.

Fire high-drent

The cultivation of cannabis has been identified in a number of Scottish fires in recent years, new data has suggested.

The fire brigade has attended 14 incidents since 2021 where the drug was mentioned in the official report of the blaze.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said the numbers were likely to be a low estimate, as there is no specific recording mechanism for cannabis-related fires.

The incidents, which peaked in 2022 and have occurred most commonly in Fife, included links to “cannabis bunkers”, cultivations, factories and production.

Charity nominated for award following Suzanne’s Law campaign

Campaigners who forced a law change in relation to killers who refuse to reveal the location of their victims have been nominated for an award.

Victim Support Scotland fought to toughen legislation known as ‘Suzanne’s Law’, in memory of Edinburgh woman Suzanne Pilley, who was killed in 2010 by David Gilroy.

He has always refused to reveal where her remains are, and is serving 18 years in prison.

Now, such a refusal must be taken into account by authorities when criminals apply for parole, as opposed to being an optional consideration.

The charity has been nominated for ‘campaign of the year’ at the Scottish Charity Awards, which take place this month.

UK Supreme Court’s Glasgow visit

The highest court of appeal in the UK held proceedings in Glasgow last month for the first time ever.

The four-day session was only the fifth time the UK Supreme Court has sat outside London.

The tour coincided with a speech by leading judges held by the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow.

Dean John Bett said: “The court plays a significant legal role across the UK, often shaping commercial and public law.”

Scottish businesses should hire people like me, says ex-offender

A former prisoner turned entrepreneur has said Scottish businesses should consider hiring people with criminal records.

Jacob Hill, founder of Offploy, said integrating offenders into the workplace would reduce reoffending and broaden the recruitment talent pool.

Speaking to the Let’s Talk Social Value podcast, he said: “Employing people with convictions is something every business should be looking to do, and there are many benefits for that business and for society.”

Host Sarah Stone added: “This is something Scottish businesses should consider – it all ties into the importance of how to build social value.”

Relief after the chaos

By Magnus Gardham 
Former Scotland Office special adviser

Got there in the end. That, at least, was the snap verdict of the Chancellor’s backbench colleagues, who waved their order papers wildly at the end of her 65-minute budget speech.

They have endured a miserable few weeks as downbeat briefings, followed by clumsy un-briefings, sparked fears of a political disaster for Labour and dented confidence in the government.

And the drama didn’t end on budget day, with claims that Rachel Reeves misled the public followed by this month’s resignation of the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

“The most chaotic lead up to a budget in living memory,” taunted Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons as she highlighted the pre-budget blunder that led to this resignation – the early publication of the OBR assessment.

When the spending plans were finally announced – as we knew to expect – Reeves avoided the poisonous step of increasing the basic rate of income tax in clear breach of Labour’s manifesto.

Instead, she revealed a plethora of smaller taxes that Labour can argue will hit those who can afford to pay more. And, of course, a freezing of thresholds until 2031 which will bring more people into tax and into higher rates.

Those rates do not apply in Scotland where income tax thresholds are devolved to Holyrood.

“The Chancellor handed Scottish Labour another get-out-of-jail card”

But the Chancellor’s move goes a long way to explaining the genuinely positive reaction from Labour MSPs. They had faced the unhappy prospect of explaining complex intergovernmental fiscal rules – and why they would cost the Scottish Government £1 billion – had Reeves raised the basic rate by 2p.

With the Holyrood election looming ever larger, the Chancellor handed Scottish Labour another get-out-of-jail card.

The two-child benefit cap was popular with the public, but appalled Labour.

By axeing it, in what was easily the most heartfelt section of her speech, Reeves delighted her own side but also removed a potentially devastating dividing line between Labour and the SNP.

SNP ministers were committed to mitigating the impact of the cap, starting just weeks before the election, and were preparing to hammer Labour – sorry, make that “callous Labour” – for the £155 million it would have cost them next year.

The Scottish Government will now save that cash and have an extra £820 million to spend, to the end of the spending review period in 2028, through the Barnett formula.

Reeves tried to credit Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar with the windfall. “Because he asked us to,” she told the Commons.

That is not really how the Barnett formula works and the sum, reflecting UK spending, was a lot less than last year’s bumper £3.4 billion transfer.

It will not stop SNP claims of austerity in the run up to next May but then, nothing would.

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