Question reference: S6W-00394
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 2 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding has been provided to the Ayrshire Police Division to help fight drug-related crime, given that the number of drug-related crimes recorded by police in South Ayrshire has increased year on year since 2016/17.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides grant in aid funding to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), which along with the Chief Constable has responsibility for allocating these resources across policing priorities. Despite constraints on Scotland’s public services through a decade of UK austerity, the Scottish Government investment in policing this year has increased by £60.5 million to more than £1.3 billion. An additional £15 million has been made available to the SPA in 2021-22 to specifically to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the policing budget.
As of 31 March 2021, there were 17,283 officers, which is significantly above the level inherited in 2007, with a higher number of officers than at any time during the previous administration.
Police Scotland will continue to prioritise reducing the harms to communities by tackling alcohol and drug misuse as outlined in their South Ayrshire Local Police Plan. The Scottish Government believes that the best way to reduce drug-related crime and drug-related death is to get people into appropriate treatment and support services at every point of the criminal justice system. However we must not be complacent, we will continue to bear down on crime in Scotland, through protecting police budgets and substantial investment in preventative programs.