Former SPA chief: Police Scotland's organisation 'full of clutter and confusion'

Prof Deacon told Holyrood’s public audit and post-legislative scrutiny committee that there has been a “deafening silence” form the Scottish Government on recommendations by the auditor general to improve the governance of Police Scotland.

Alex Neil, who sits on the committee, suggested that there could be an examination into whether the SPA is required to operate – with the organisation supposed to act as a “buffer” between the Scottish Government and Police Scotland.

Prof Deacon said: “In practice that separation just doesn’t meaningfully happen.

“Having spent now just my own two years as chair and drilling deep into this system and how it’s supposed to work and having studied closely what had gone before, I think the fact is that it’s just not working as intended.”

READ MORE: Police Scotland watchdog Susan Deacon resigns

She added: “I’m not saying that these things are sinister. When you push into this terrain, people start talking about interference and inappropriate involvement. I’m just saying there’s a system that’s developed that is just full of clutter and confusion and government involvement and lots of direction actions between the minister and the chief constable.

“I think it’s entirely appropriate that ministers should get direct briefings form the chief constable and significant operational issues or events. What happens in practice, if you take for example, a lot of the interactions around financial issues is that there’s a multiplicity of conversations variously involving the minister, civil servants with senior police officers, with finance. What happens is there is just a muddying of the waters throughout and I just don’t think that’s right.”

Liberal Democrats have called for an independent body to examine the structure of policing in Scotland.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that the SNP’s botched centralisation hardwired serious weaknesses in the governance of policing in Scotland. That is a message that Susan Deacon reiterated today, echoing many of the concerns previously raised by the auditor general.

“It is not good enough for the Scottish Government, as Prof Deacon said, to act as if everything is fine and that there’s ‘nothing to see here’. That is patently not the case, as the growing number of former SPA chairs and chief constables can testify. Simply changing personnel rather than the system within which they are operating is setting those individuals up to fail.

“It is time for the Justice Secretary to take his head out of the sand. He needs to establish an independent commission to look into the governance and structures of policing in Scotland and come forward with recommendations that can begin to address the concerns highlighted by Prof Deacon, the auditor general and others.

“That is what the public would expect and what overstretched officers and staff deserve.” 

The interim chair of the SPA, David Crichton, was grilled by the committee over why a workforce plan still hasn’t been drawn up.

Mr Crichton admitted that it was “unacceptable” that no plan had been set up yet and that he hoped it would be in place by November. He added that it “has been delayed too long” and that there has been “a difficulty in appreciating how complex” the study would be to compile.

Police Scotland has now taken help from the NHS to draw up the document.

The auditor general’s examination of Police Scotland for 2018/19 found that “there remains an urgent need to prepare detailed workforce plans” and stated that a “review of the demand and skill mix of the workforce” needs to take place.