Meeting of the Parliament 10 November 2015
Mr Rennie, in making the point that he raised the issue in Parliament, has given the impression that no action was taken following his comments. I specifically raised the matters with the chief constable and with Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick and Assistant Chief Constable Val Thomson, who all have lead policy responsibility in this particular area. That resulted in changes in the way in which they were managing the restructuring of the call centres.
I refer Willie Rennie specifically to the findings in the HMICS report, which clearly states that significant action was taken early in the year to address a number of the issues that were raised in Parliament and the concerns that were raised with Police Scotland.
The HMICS executive summary makes particular reference to those concerns. It is clear that the issues around poor performance were identified early in 2015—as outlined at paragraph 29—and that, as a result, there has been stronger engagement and oversight from the SPA regarding evidence in those areas. The report highlights the improvements in internal governance since the spring, including the introduction of weekly reporting to address some of the issues.
I am not saying that everything has been sorted; the HMICS report identifies that further work is required. However, it is factually wrong for Willie Rennie to suggest that nothing happened from the point at which he raised the matter—indeed, HMICS has identified the improvements that occurred as a result. I welcome those improvements and the recommendations in the report, and we will build on that progress to further address the issues.