Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Official Report 540KB pdf

Justice Sub-Committee on Policing (Report Back)

Our next item of business is a report back on the meeting of the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing that took place on 12 March 2020. I refer members to paper 3, which is a note by the clerk. I invite John Finnie to give the report.

As you say, convener, the sub-committee met on 12 March, when it held an evidence session on policing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 26th conference of the parties climate summit, which is also known as COP26. The conference is to take place from 9 to 20 November this year at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow.

Assistant Chief Constable Bernie Higgins and James Gray, from Police Scotland, provided comprehensive details of the planning and preparations for policing the conference. ACC Higgins provided reassurance that progress had been made on three key areas—funding, governance and risk—which had previously been highlighted to the chief constable as concerns.

Police Scotland is working on the principle of no financial detriment to the service, which has been accepted by Peter Hill, the chief executive of COP26. The United Kingdom Government has confirmed that it will provide marginal cost recovery, which includes the cost of mutual aid from other UK police forces and associated costs, such as accommodation costs.

The most recent cost estimate for policing the event is £180 million, which is a reduction from the initial indicative cost of £250 million. That will be reviewed on an on-going basis and is subject to independent verification by the Metropolitan Police Service.

ACC Higgins outlined the governance arrangements that are in place and gave an assurance that police unions and staff associations are included in the planning process. There is contingency planning for risks, including the potential risk of the spread of the coronavirus.

ACC Higgins outlined the scale of the event and a number of the challenges. On the issue of peaceful protest, he confirmed that Police Scotland does not classify climate change protesters as a terrorist threat; they are simply classified as climate change protesters.

COP26 is one of the largest conferences ever to be held in Scotland. Therefore, the sub-committee will continue to keep the policing aspects under review.

Thank you for that report. As members have no comments, we will move on.