Outgoing Chief Constable Sir Stephen House has expressed his frustration that he is unable to answer his many critics on the controversies that have engulfed Police Scotland in recent months.

A report into police call handling sparked by the deaths of a couple who lay undiscovered for three days in a crashed car, an investigation into the death in custody of Sheku Bayoh, a report into claims Police Scotland spied on journalists, an apparently "uncomfortable" staff survey and the recommendations of an advisory group on stop and search are all awaiting publication.

Sir Stephen, who announced he will stand down by the end of the year, said he could not update the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) on any of these matters at a meeting in Stirling today.

Sir Stephen said: "There has been significant public and media attention on two tragic events involving Police Scotland, specifically the death in Kirkcaldy of Mr Sheku Beyoh and the deaths on the M9 of Ms Lamara Bell and Mr John Yuill.

"Every death, quite clearly, is a tragedy for the families and the friends of the victims.

"I cannot begin to understand, and I don't think anyone who has not been directly affected can begin to understand what these families are going through, and we don't pretend that we do.

"But I can give my assurance on behalf of the organisation that we continue to repeat our condolences to all those who have been affected by the tragedies.

"I also want to give my sincere commitment that where mistakes have been made that we will learn from those mistakes, and any recommendations that will improve the performance and response of Police Scotland in relation to incidents like this will be taken on board without question.

"There is an understandable degree of frustration that Police Scotland is not directly addressing the tragedies that we have talked about, but I want to make it clear we are not able under law to answer fully at this moment in time.

"We would like to give full and frank answers to the questions that are legitimately being asked, but we are unable to do that because there are independent investigations being run by PIRC, the Crown and HMICS, and it would be entirely inappropriate for us to offer responses while these investigations are going on."

The Herald:

Police Scotland has yet to publish a joint SPA/Police Scotland staff survey, which is widely expected to make "uncomfortable reading" for the force.

Sir Stephen said Police Scotland is meeting with researchers Axiom on September 1 to discuss how they will communicate the results of the survey, with an aim to have it "fully communicated before the end of September".

SPA member Jean Freeman said: "The IOCCO (Interception of Communications Commissioner's Office) report asserts that two unnamed forces breached the rules with respect to RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) legislation to access communications.

"Is there anything to this point, given the speculation that Police Scotland is allegedly one of those forces, that the Chief Constable is able to say to the board?"

Sir Stephen said: "Unfortunately there is nothing I can add. It is exactly the same situation with the other independent reviews and inquiries that I have looked at.

"This is something that is being done across the UK, and there is no final report or finding yet and therefore I'm not able to say anything beyond what we have already put out into the public - which is virtually saying nothing.

"As soon as we are, we will be happy to report back to the authority."

The recommendation of the Stop & Search Independent Advisory Group chaired by John Scott QC is due to report its recommendations to Scottish ministers at the end of August.