Committee
Criminal Justice Committee 04 March 2026 [Draft]
04 Mar 2026 · S6 · Criminal Justice Committee
Item of business
Budget 2026-27 and Scottish Spending Review
Chief Constable Farrell
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We have spent considerable time working through where we can take costs out of the budget in order to maintain officer numbers. You have heard me speak many times about front-line policing being a priority. The measures that we have taken are not without risk, and I will talk you through some of those areas.We have looked closely at prioritising the front line and ensuring that we maintain an on-going commitment to driving efficiencies, removing duplication and increasing capacity across the system. Some of the specific levers that we have pulled to ensure front-line policing strength relate to vacancies across some of our police-staff functions, with the exception of our custody staff and our control-room staff. You are aware that we ran pilots on workforce modernisation involving civilian investigators. These were people working in our professional standards department. The feedback is really positive, and we have managed to maintain some of the modernised posts in our control room and in firearms licensing. Unfortunately, we were not able to take forward some of the other modernised posts into this year.We have gone through our non-pay costs line by line, as you would expect us to do. However, the biggest point—and the area of greatest risk—is our overtime budget. We have some degree of control over parts of that, but no control over others, such as officers attending court on rest days or while on annual leave. Overtime is an important tool in policing. I will point to two big operations that you are familiar with from last year: operation portaledge, which related to the organised crime feud across the central belt; and operation leste, which was our response to protest across the country. We are bearing down on overtime spend, but there is risk associated with that.I will highlight two other areas of risk. Last week, a further public inquiry was announced. Currently, we have limited budget for that. We also have limited budget for implementing new legislation. Discussions are on-going with the Government on those areas, together with the inflation guarantee issue.There are significant risks, but my priority is the front line.
In the same item of business
09:02
The Convener
SNP
Our next item of business is an evidence-taking session by way of reflecting on the budget proposed for 2026-27 and the Scottish spending review. This mornin...
Chief Constable Jo Farrell (Police Scotland)
Good morning, and thank you for the invitation to provide some reflections on the budget and the spending review. Throughout our evidence to inform the commi...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much. We will move straight into questions.I will first pick up on a point that you made in your opening remarks about the challenges relating...
Chief Constable Farrell
I will kick off on that question, and I will then ask DCC Speirs to discuss some of the specific detail.In my opening remarks, I talked strongly in relation ...
The Convener
SNP
On that point, would there be any value in revisiting the wellbeing duty that is set out in the 2012 act, and could that potentially lead to a freeing up of ...
Chief Constable Farrell
I am very cognisant of the legislation. Somebody might tell me different, but I do not think that the word “wellbeing”, as it is used in the legislation, has...
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs (Police Scotland)
We recognise that there will always be a small number of incidents in which police attendance and support is critical because people are in extreme crisis. A...
Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
SNP
In this area, the focus understandably tends to be on the capacity of the health service to accommodate those who are brought into the hospital environment. ...
Chief Constable Farrell
Yes, I recognise that as a challenge. From speaking to officers, I know that the desire to stay with the person is driven by two things: genuine empathy with...
Jamie Hepburn
SNP
I would have—
The Convener
SNP
We must move on, Jamie. I will bring in Sharon Dowey and we might come back to your question if we have time, although we have limited time. I ask for questi...
Sharon Dowey (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
I will try to be quick.DCC Speirs, you said that you are looking at ways of freeing up officers earlier in the process but, in many instances, the police sho...
Deputy Chief Constable Speirs
Over the past couple of years, it has felt as if we have been the driving force in attempts to make inroads into the handling of mental health calls. There i...
The Convener
SNP
Rona Mackay can come in briefly.
Rona Mackay (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning. How does your new strategy, for want of a better word, translate to small communities such as villages and rural communities? Would you still o...
Deputy Chief Constable Speirs
We use the THRIVE—threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability, engagement—assessment in our service centres and that will never change. We will always l...
Chief Constable Farrell
Sixty per cent of the calls that come in in this space involve an individual or family member requesting help from us. When we look at that data, we would al...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
Good morning. Chief constable, you told the committee—your written submission reiterates this—that you required a minimum uplift of £104.9 million simply to ...
Chief Constable Farrell
We have spent considerable time working through where we can take costs out of the budget in order to maintain officer numbers. You have heard me speak many ...
Liam Kerr
Con
The related question is that the Scottish Police Authority budget for 2026-27 includes £86.3 million of capital funding, but you requested £93.9 million. You...
Chief Constable Farrell
DCC Speirs will pick that up, then Sarah Roughead will probably also want to come in.
Deputy Chief Constable Speirs
You have begun to focus on where part of the answer lies by using that example. A big proportion of our capital spend is on data and digital systems. Over th...
Sarah Roughead (Police Scotland)
Just to add to that answer, most of our capital spend is across the estate, the fleet and the digital transformation that DCC Speirs mentioned. We have a fiv...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning. I want to ask the chief constable about community policing, but I will first ask Sarah Roughead whether she can clarify something about the bud...
Sarah Roughead
We received the funding for the presidential and vice-presidential visits in the current year, 2025-26. We recorded that separately to our main budget alloca...
Pauline McNeill
Lab
So, the £90.3 million does not include the £30.4 million?
Sarah Roughead
It does not.
Pauline McNeill
Lab
That is a relief.
Sarah Roughead
For other major events, again, we expect no detriment to policing. In our view, that £90.3 million does not cover, for example, the Commonwealth games. We ar...