Police Scotland has said it still has work to do to improve call centre responses in the north following a critical report by a police watchdog.
Personnel in the understaffed Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee call centres are facing "unacceptably high" pressures and the practice of diverting overflow calls to the central belt is creating additional risk to the public, according to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS).
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson today handed Police Scotland £1.4 million to meet HMICS key recommendation that the planned closure of call centres in the north be suspended and staff retained until a new area control-room in Dundee is fully operational.
He directed HMICS to examine call handling following the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell, who lay undiscovered for days despite a sighting of their wrecked car being reported to a police control-room.
Assistant Chief Constable Val Thomson said: "Plans are already in place that respond to the issues identified in the HMICS interim review published today."
She added: "Our call answering times on non emergency lines needed to improve. They have now not only improved but also stabilised in the East and West above the expected levels of performance.
"We have more work to do in the North as we move towards our remodelling, but are grateful for the support being provided through the HMICS inspection to identify areas for development as well as opportunities for the future.
"We will continue to provide all our performance data to the SPA and work with them to give reassurance we are consolidating where we have made changes and thoroughly planning and consulting on the next stages."
HMICS will issue a full report by the end of October, but it has today issued an interim recommendation stating that ''the service centres in Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness should be maintained and staffed appropriately'' until a planned new area control-room in Dundee is fully operational.
HMICS said performance in Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness is currently falling below target due to the ''pressure of call demand on remaining staff (which) remains unacceptably high, with overflow calls being routinely diverted from Dundee and Inverness to the sites in Govan, Motherwell and Bilston Glen''.
The report states: ''The current practice of diverting unanswered 'overflow' calls to the sites in Govan, Motherwell and Bilston Glen is creating additional risk by passing incidents back to the north area control-rooms in the absence of a single national command and control system.
''We consider that this will not be fully resolved until; the service centres in Govan, Motherwell and Bilston Glen are fully functional with the full complement of trained staff supported by stable systems and processes which are capable of taking the additional call demand from the north and; the new area control-room in Dundee is fully operational.
''However, we believe strongly that the service centres in Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness should be maintained and staffed appropriately until these key elements are fully in place.''
Police Scotland is already struggling with an £11 million funding shortfall, and outgoing Chief Constable Sir Stephen House has questioned whether some of the decisions which may be required to close the gap would be ''politically acceptable'' to the Scottish Government and Scottish Police Authority.
HMICS has noted that the consequences of any delay to the planned call centre programme ''will have an impact on the achievement of savings and may result in additional risk''.
The report states: ''In order to effectively manage this change process and effectively learn the lessons from previous stage implementations, Police Scotland are likely to require to secure additional resources.
''This should be subject to the development of a business case and associated scrutiny and approval.''
Family caring for Lamara Bell's son Keiran have urged Scotland's authorities to learn the lessons from her death so that no child has to experience what he is going through.
Keiran is now being cared for by his father Lee Burt and grandfather James McMillan.
A statement issued on their behalf states: "The family welcome today's report but a great deal still remains to be investigated.
"The Scottish Government must act on all the interim findings, ordinary people who entrust their lives to call centres must be 100% sure that their cries for help will be answered.
"We are conscious that this tragedy has been turned into a political football and very convenient way to scapegoat individuals, but for us it is about why a young boy will face many difficult years of going to sleep and waking up without his mummy.
"We have tried our best to protect Keiran and we know we will never be able to fill the massive void left in his life by the loss of Lamara, but if there is to be a legacy from this tragedy then lessons must be learned as soon as possible, so that no child has to experience what our Keiran is going through."
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