AN acting Scots police chief has asked senior officers to reassure staff they can come forward with reports of abuse following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Deputy Chief Constable Designate Iain Livingstone spoke after being asked for reassurances that there were measures in place for all staff to talk freely about issues in the workplace and that they are properly dealt with.

UK police investigating Weinstein are looking at sexual assault allegations from seven women.

Officers are investigating separate incidents alleged to have taken place between the 1980s and 2015 both in London as well as outside of the UK.

The Hollywood film producer has "unequivocally denied" any allegations of non-consensual sex.

New York police are also investigating claims against the 65-year-old, including rape and sexual assault.

Numerous allegations have been made against the movie mogul by women including actresses Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Police Scotland said there were whistleblowing procedures in place to raise concerns.

Mr Livingstone said that harassment of any kind is not acceptable encouraged any staff to report to line managers or through the anonymous reporting facility - Integrity Matters.

He said: "If you look at what we have with Integrity Matters in terms of a confidential means of communicating with the organisation, some other institutions are looking at the practices we adopted.

"We are developing a culture that encourages people to step forward. and we have done that.

"The number of direct inputs to professional standards from individual officers has increased. And they are doing it in an overt manner."