Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Official Report 559KB pdf

Justice Sub-Committee on Policing (Report Back)

Agenda item 5, which we may as well move on to, is feedback from the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing from its meeting of 23 November 2017. In the absence of Mary Fee, I will read the report. There will be an opportunity for brief comments and questions. I refer members to paper 3, which is the note by the clerk, which states:

“The Justice Sub-Committee on Policing met on 23 November 2017 when it held an evidence session on the progress of the two independent investigations into Police Scotland’s Counter Corruption Unit.

The Sub-Committee took evidence from Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents and UNISON.

The Sub-Committee heard about the restructuring of Police Scotland’s professional standards department and how Police Scotland handles complaints against its officers.

The Sub-Committee also asked questions about the current status of the investigations into the CCU and the publication status of the forthcoming reports of those investigations.

The Sub-Committee will next meet on 7 December 2017, when it will hold an evidence session on Police Scotland’s custody provision.”

Are there any comments and questions?

As you know, the situation has dragged on for some considerable time, and it looks like it will continue to drag on. That is not in anyone’s interests. There are three on-going investigations, which involve Durham Constabulary, Northumbria Police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. We learned that there was an additional report from the English forces covering chief officers, which was something that I had not hitherto been aware of.

I encourage Police Scotland to turn things around as soon as possible in order to remove much of the unhelpful speculation that there has been about police work.

There has been a brief discussion this morning about the possibility of bringing to the committee the new chair of the SPA and the interim chief constable—if a permanent appointment has not been made—which would give the full Justice Committee the opportunity to ask questions and to meet both those people.

We cannot go much further with the meeting until the minister arrives.