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Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2014

26 Feb 2014 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Justice

Pearson, Graeme Lab South Scotland Watch on SPTV

I do not know whether that was wrong or right at the time; I am suggesting to the cabinet secretary that the past couple of years presented Scotland with a real opportunity to move its emergency services into the 21st century. The cross-boundary provision of control rooms would have been the opportunity for the next 50 years.

The co-location of services on sites across the country would have ensured savings in relation to buildings, heating, facilities and support. It would have been an opportunity for the services to share control rooms across the country at a cost that they could have afforded, while delivering a more effective service. What has happened to genuine consultations with local communities on their expectations, priorities and service needs before decisions are taken at headquarters? Instead, we have HQ talking about what is good for communities from a distance.

Recently, the cabinet secretary attended the Dumfries control room, shortly after it was visited by the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing. He failed to speak to the control room staff who stood on the pavement waiting to talk to him. Furthermore, in response to all the local concerns that have been raised, in media reports thereafter he focused heavily on firearms teams, helicopter support and mounted officers. All those services are highly valued, but he failed to demonstrate his understanding of communities’ need to feel confident in their local emergency services with regard to everyday calls such as those about antisocial behaviour related to drunks, dogs fouling in public areas, shoplifters and vandals, all of which destroy quality of life.

If recent reports about the subsuming of crimes into one report are accurate, if the reports on negative stop and searches are true, and if the feedback that MSPs from right across the chamber have received from their constituents is anything to go by, there are concerns about how the police and fire services are being delivered.

The Police Service is insufficiently accountable and it needs to be subject to proper governance, because if it is not properly governed, there is a danger that it will become merely an army of occupation that is maintained at public expense. Police and staff did not join the service to be party to that ethos, and they did not expect to be abandoned to enable such an approach to be taken.

It is time for a change in approach; it is time for openness on what is going on across our services; and it is time for SNP policy to deliver not merely announcements, but quality services in and for our communities—services for which it is accountable to those communities.

This week, the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Ross McEwan, announced a commitment to rebuild his bank from the ground floor up.

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Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2014

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