Chamber and committees

The deployment and management of Police Officers are matters for the Chief Constable. However, I am aware that the cancellation of rest days can be due to a number of reasons, including attendance at court and the policing of events.

The Scottish Government is supporting its justice partners in achieving the outcomes described in the Vision for Justice in Scotland by taking forward a programme to drive key areas of reform, including criminal justice efficiency.

One element of this is the Summary Case Management currently being rolled out across Scotland. This initiative aims to improve the management of summary criminal cases in Scotland and reduce the number of unnecessary hearings. A pilot evaluation report published in September shows a significant reduction in the volume of witness citations being issued, this relates to police officers, victims and witnesses. The impact on police witnesses has been positive with a reduction of citations for domestic cases by up to 34% in all pilot courts. This equates to around 5000 citations not being served on operational officers in pilot areas.

Police Scotland are also progressing work to reduce the impact policing of events on officers such as the Force Mobilisation Model.

The welfare of officers within Police Scotland are a matter for the Chief Constable.

Post-traumatic support is offered to all officers and staff who are directly involved in potentially traumatic incidents. I am aware that on 29 May Police Scotland indicated to the SPA People Committee that it will undertake an in-depth review of its support provisions in relation to trauma.

I discussed the issue of post-traumatic support with the Scottish Police Federation on 11 June. On 25 June I passed on the concerns raised to Police Scotland who advised that they would be engaging further with SPF on this issue.

The deployment of officers and staff are a matter for the Chief Constable.

I have regular meetings with the Chief Constable where we discuss relevant issues. Minutes of these meetings can be found at: Police Scotland and Scottish Government meeting: June 2025 - gov.scot

The deployment and management of police officers are matters for the Chief Constable.

The Scottish Government is investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26, an increase of almost £90 million of additional funding from the 2024-25 budget. Our investment in policing has enabled Police Scotland to undertake the highest level of recruitment since its inception in the last financial year. Around 1,370 new officers have joined since the start of 2024 including a further 100 new recruits on 7 July.

Police Scotland’s three-year Business Plan 2024-2027 sets out an ambitious programme of workforce modernisation which aims to bring frontline policing to its strongest possible position.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as this is a matter for the Chief Constable.

I am pleased that Police Scotland has invested £17 million to enhance welfare provision. This included a new 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, direct access to occupational health services and a greater focus on mental health. This highlights the priority that Police Scotland places on supporting the health and wellbeing of the workforce, supported by a Health and Wellbeing Action Plan to underpin delivery.

While deployment of resources and any subsequent impact are operational matters for Police Scotland, I regularly meet with the Scottish Police Federation and previously met them on 11 June 2025, where we discussed the health and wellbeing of the workforce and related operational impacts.

Section 298 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 establishes a legal obligation which applies at both at an organisational level to Police Scotland, and to the individual officer carrying out a place of safety removal. The constable who took the person to the place of safety is to, as soon as is practicable, inform the local authority in whose area the place of safety is situated and inform the nearest relative of the person who has been removed. They should also inform the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland within 14 days. Police Scotland, as a corporate body, has a duty to ensure policies, procedures and training enables officers to comply with the duties in Section 298.

The Mental Welfare Commission, as the body who monitor the use of the 2003 Act, are best placed to explore why this data may be missing and to work with Police Scotland to improve compliance. My officials meet regularly with the Commission and will work with them to resolve this issue.

We are working closely with the Mhor Collective and specialist violence against women and girls (VAWG) services, to identify the digital inclusion needs of women and girls who have experienced technology-facilitated VAWG and improve the support that is available to them.

We have established a VAWG Digital Inclusion Network, made up of specialist violence against women and girls (VAWG) services to consider how we can improve access to information and advice for survivors of technology-facilitated VAWG. This includes developing and sharing appropriate resources with the organisations supporting survivors and building the digital skills and confidence of staff and volunteers working in those organisations. We are funding the Mhor Collective, who have a long track record of digital inclusion work, to lead this work.

Recognising the barriers that exist for certain groups, we are considering the digital inclusion needs of minority ethnic women and girls, women involved in commercial sexual exploitation and women in rural and remote areas.

Our Equally Safe Strategy Delivery Plan committed to develop a campaign to work with men and boys to recognise that we need to challenge misogyny to pave the way for the effective dismantling of the gender-based structures and attitudes which enable and support violence against women and girls. We recognise that men and boys need to be part of the solution.

Officials have undertaken extensive desk research and insight discovery work to support the development of a campaign to tackle this issue. This work has been supported by an investment of £35,000 to date and further investment planned this year to develop, produce and launch the activity in the first quarter of 2026. We will work closely with our partners in the statutory and third sectors throughout the campaign development.

We have undertaken a literature review and engaged with a range of specialist organisations to understand the issue and what is required to address it. We are currently developing a policy definition of extended family abuse, including exploring how it interacts with intimate partner abuse and honour based abuse and other forms of VAWG.

We will continue to work with specialist organisations and academics in the Addressing Violence Against Minority Ethnic Women and Girls Network, and mainstream services including Social Work Scotland, Police Scotland, COPFS, NHS Scotland and local authorities to inform our work. We will share the draft policy definition with partners in Autumn 2025.