POLICE Scotland’s former deputy chief constable has alleged a secret agreement was struck with the SNP Government not to bring forward reforms of the single force before the Holyrood election.
In a private letter to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in December, Neil Richardson claimed that the looming poll was also “part” of the reason a financial strategy had not been produced for the cash-strapped force.
Police Scotland is accountable to the SPA and not to the Scottish Government, a move designed to guard against political interference.
Read more: Revealed - the civil war inside the Scottish Police Authority
However, correspondence leaked to the Herald contains claims that Ministers have controlled the timing of the force’s rolling reform agenda.
On December 7th - when the letter was sent – Mr Richardson was in charge of the force in the wake of Sir Stephen House’s retirement as chief constable.
Mr Richardson and SPA chief executive John Foley had given evidence to the Holyrood Justice Committee six days earlier and the DCC had concerns about comments made by his co-witness.
Writing to Mr Foley, he quoted the chief executive’s comment to MSPs that a new corporate strategy would be “in place by the end of March”.
In his letter, Mr Richardson claimed this was a “material departure” from previous discussions and a “significant change of direction”.
He explained: “You have previously advised of an agreement reached with Scottish Government that we (the SPA and Police Scotland) will not bring forward any new strategies before the election in May 2016.”
Read more: SNP under fire as numeracy standards continue to slide
Mr Richardson wrote that the alleged agreement had been “reflected” in earlier discussions, such as when “you explained that this was part of the reason a financial strategy was not forthcoming at this time”.
Claire Baker, the Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman, said: “Any hint of political influence being placed on the decision-making process of the SPA and Police Scotland is deeply concerning. It would be unacceptable if difficult or unpopular announcements were kicked into the long grass for the political convenience of the SNP Government.
"SNP Justice Minister Michael Matheson must make a statement to Parliament on this matter as a matter of urgency.”
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: “It is quite concerning that it seems there was an agreement on delaying new strategies between the Scottish Government, SPA and Police Scotland before the election and suggests the SNP may have something to hide.
“It seems that this risk adverse SNP government wanted nothing to get out before the election which begs the question what were they afraid of?
“It is vital that a fine balance is struck between accountability and how much control politicians should over internal police affairs.”
Mr Richardson also revealed tensions between the force and the SPA on the new corporate strategy.
He wrote that Mr Foley’s evidence to the Justice Committee – that the SPA would be developing the plan - had “not been communicated to, nor agreed by Police Scotland”.
Read more: Scottish Police Authority changed firearms report after SNP Government 'feedback'
Mr Richardson added that “significant resources” would be required for this task, but extra funding was “not currently built into budget planning”. He has since retired from the force.
Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur said: "The fact that the Scottish Government appear to have worked to prevent the emergence of a potentially controversial new strategy for Police Scotland before the election is a huge concern.
“The SNP’s centralisation of the police was the biggest public policy failure of the last parliament and has caused real harm. But the solution to the challenges the national force is facing is more democracy and scrutiny, not less.
"Difficult issues cannot simply be kicked into the long grass to avoid tough questions. We need to know what the Scottish Government’s motivation was for delaying police publications. If there was a good reason we should hear it."
An SPA spokesperson said: "We can confirm that there was an exchange of letters between SPA and Police Scotland last December to clarify SPA expectations of Police Scotland in regard to corporate and financial strategies, and to correct some misinterpretations. In particular, the Chief Executive stated in his letter to DCC Richardson that he did not agree of having advised of any agreement with Scottish Government in relation to not bringing forward new strategies until after the election.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The normal pre-election guidance applied to SPA as it did to public bodies more generally and at no point did Scottish Government seek to go beyond this in directing when the SPA corporate strategy could be published.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “There was no agreement in place with the Scottish Government regarding Police Scotland progressing strategies ahead of the election. In March 2016 the revised Police Scotland corporate strategy and long-term financial strategy was considered by the SPA board.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel