PRESSURE is growing on Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill amid concerns about the ability of Police Scotland to achieve ambitious targets and save more than £1 billion by 2026.
Mr MacAskill has fought off calls for him to be sacked over the past two weeks, after he was forced to delay a flagship Bill to remove the centuries-old corroboration rule in criminal trials.
However, his plan for the single force to save £1.1bn by 2026 is being disputed by four MSPs on a powerful Holyrood committee.
The Public Audit Committee carried out a six-month inquiry into the force, but Labour MSPs Hugh Henry and Ken Macintosh, LibDem Tavish Scott and Tory Mary Scanlon were angered after the final, revised, report underwent "substantial changes", removing much of the criticism of the Government, whose majority of MSPs voted it through.
They have now made the unusual decision not to endorse the report after four stormy meetings, and are understood to have produced their own report criticising the complex arrangements to govern and oversee Police Scotland.
The "rebel" report and the official report will now both be issued on Tuesday next week, bringing renewed scrutiny of Mr MacAskill's claims.
One source close to the committee said it was felt the Justice Secretary's £1.1bn figure had "been calculated on the back of a fag packet".
The spat threatens to put more strain on Mr MacAskill who has faced calls for him to be replaced after he put on hold plans to end the requirement for corroboration in the Criminal Justice Bill.
Mr MacAskill has faced a number of controversies, including a boycott of sheriff courts by lawyers over his Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill, which aimed to make some accused pay defence costs and which was only passed with amendments.
He faced anger from US relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing following his decision to release the terminally ill Libyan convicted of the atrocity, Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, on compassionate grounds in August 2009.
The achievability of the £1.1bn saving has been questioned by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland.
Six months into the new police structure, it said Police Scotland and its oversight body, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), had failed to finalise a strategy showing how long-term savings would be achieved.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Positive progress has been made towards delivering the projected savings of £1.1bn by 2026 - with approximately £880 million of recurring savings already secured.
"At the SPA Board meeting on March 26, the Chief Constable confirmed the £1.1bn savings target would be delivered two years early."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article