Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 25 November 2020
No, I do not accept that at all.
On Liam Kerr’s point—which I think was also raised by one or two other members—about the Government needing to come forward with a statement on the report, our amendment says that I will come back early in the new year.
I think that Liam Kerr suggested—incorrectly—that, when the interim report was produced, I made a statement to Parliament. I think that he will want to check the record on that and perhaps clarify the situation. I gave evidence on the interim report to the Justice Committee. I have not yet been invited again by the Justice Committee or by the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing, although I understand that the sub-committee may want me to come before it in the new year, and I would be happy to do that. If the sub-committee wants to see me earlier than that, it may issue the invitation and, of course, I will do what I can to attend.
I am more than happy to come forward. I think that it makes sense, however, for there to be a little time—it does not have to be extensive—for partners and key stakeholders to understand how we are going to implement the recommendations. We also have to think about the legislative timetable, particularly as we are in an election year, with a new Parliament forthcoming.
Gordon Lindhurst was right to point out the resource implications, which is another reason why we have to work through the recommendations. If we are to accept them, there will undoubtedly be resource implications. He was, however, wrong to say that there have been recent cuts to policing in Scotland. That is not the case. We increased Police Scotland’s budget last year by £60 million, which was £10 million more than the Conservatives asked for.
As the Government’s amendment says, we take the recommendations of Dame Elish Angiolini extraordinarily seriously. However, we take equally seriously the concerns that are raised in Rhoda Grant’s amendment, so we will support the Labour amendment.
I will end as I did in my opening remarks. As the chief constable regularly states, policing by consent is derived from the consent not of ministers, nor of the Parliament, but of the public. It is imperative that we do everything in our power to increase the confidence that already exists in policing. I certainly commit myself to coming in front of the Parliament and its committees as often as they would like, to give continued updates on the report. I give an absolute commitment that we will not only take the report seriously but implement its recommendations, to ensure that we continue to increase confidence in policing, which we all want to see across the board.