Meeting of the Parliament 10 September 2024
I am pleased to open the debate on the general principles of the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill. I thank the Criminal Justice Committee for its scrutiny of the bill. Its stage 1 report raised several important points, which I have considered carefully. I also thank the organisations and individuals who have provided evidence to the committee and who have engaged intensively with the bill. The bill has been shaped by those who have had lived experience of the police complaints system, many of whom felt that the whole system was against them, that they became the victim and that there was no independent body to turn to.
I thank, too, everyone in Police Scotland: the officers and staff who work tirelessly to protect and support our communities, the vast majority of whom conduct themselves with integrity and professionalism. Ensuring public trust in the police service is vital, and we need strong processes in place to deal with complaints and allegations of wrongdoing about the police in order to secure that trust. That is at the heart of the bill. It aims to strengthen public confidence in Police Scotland, a service that operates under the principle of policing by consent.
The bill gives prominence to ethical policing and supports further processes for the handling of any conduct that falls short of the high standards of professional behaviour that the public rightly expect. The bill provides greater consequences for gross misconduct and enhances independent scrutiny of policing.
In 2018, the Scottish Government and the Lord Advocate jointly commissioned Dame Elish Angiolini to undertake an independent review of complaints handling, investigations and misconduct issues in relation to policing. Dame Elish’s review was the catalyst for systemic cultural change and organisational development to deliver significant improvements in the police complaints and police misconduct processes. Those improvements are helping to make both systems easier to navigate for members of the public, as well as increasing consistency, efficiency and timeliness.
The bill builds on the transformative change that has already been delivered by policing partners. It makes direct changes in primary legislation and paves the way for a range of further measures that will follow in secondary legislation.
The provisions in the bill cover three main themes—ethics of the police, police conduct and independent scrutiny of the police by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner. Police Scotland officers must act in a way that secures and maintains the respect and trust of the public. They have a strong focus on respecting human rights, and Police Scotland already has a code of ethics. The bill will make it a statutory obligation to keep a code in place, reflecting its significance in setting out what the public can expect from the service, its constables and police staff.
Having a range of key stakeholders as statutory consultees helps to ensure that the code is of high quality. Reflecting views that were heard at committee, I propose to add the Scottish Human Rights Commission and Equality and Human Rights Commission to the list of mandatory consultees that the chief constable must consult when drafting the code.
I also plan to reflect on the evidence that was heard by the Criminal Justice Committee to add further sources that the chief constable must refer to when preparing the code. As Dame Elish set out in her review, those who hold the office of constable and the powers of that office have a higher duty than others to account for their actions and record what they did or saw in the execution of their duties. The bill proposes to introduce an explicit duty of candour on individual constables and also on Police Scotland as an organisation. A duty to be candid is already implied within standards of professional behaviour. However, introducing a statutory duty of candour will make clear to all what we can expect of the police service.
I very much recognise the committee’s views on the application of the individual duty of candour to police staff who have statutory powers and duties in operational roles. I intend to work with Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority on how that could best be progressed. I am happy to confirm that I propose to amend the bill’s duty of candour provision to make it clear that such candour is also required in investigations of police staff and Scottish Police Authority staff, not just those of fellow constables.