Good morning, convener and all Justice Sub-Committee members. I hope that you are all keeping well and safe. Thank you for the invitation to the meeting.
The Lord Advocate and I are grateful to Dame Elish Angiolini for the significant work that she has undertaken to produce such a wide-ranging and forensic report on police complaints and their handling. We also thank the individuals and organisations that gave evidence, as well as the often-forgotten hard-working secretariat for their work on and analysis in the report.
As outlined in our joint response, working with partners, we intend to accept the vast majority of Dame Elish’s recommendations, many as specifically set out. However, we also hope to explore other routes or mechanisms that might achieve the desired outcome.
As I am sure that the committee will agree, it is important that confidence in the police remains high. I greatly value the work of Scotland’s police officers and staff in keeping communities safe and as a critical part of our public health response to the challenges of the pandemic. However, when things go wrong, it is essential that the police are held to account, lessons are learned and improvements are made. The Lord Advocate and I remain confident that the systems for the handling of police complaints, investigations and misconduct are fundamentally sound. Nonetheless, we agree with Dame Elish that reform of certain aspects is needed. The report provides a broad suite of recommendations that will provide a strong platform from which to derive meaningful improvement.
I do not underestimate the scale of the task ahead, but I am committed to delivering improvements in partnership and building on the successful improvement work that has been undertaken since publication of the preliminary report in June 2019.
I commend the significant steps that have been taken by Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and, indeed, the Government. Each partner organisation is putting in place important measures on which to build progress towards implementation. In particular, I welcome the strong statement and swift action from the chief constable of Scotland and the SPA in condemning discrimination and reinforcing the importance of diversity and inclusion within policing.
Given the complexity and breadth of the review, we are putting in place clear structures to oversee, co-ordinate and report on progress. Those in no way cut across or replace existing governance and accountability arrangements, but they will provide assurance to both me and the Lord Advocate on delivery.
I recognise the importance of transparency and I am committed to sharing information on progress in a way that is meaningful and accessible to a range of audiences. A list of all 111 recommendations from the preliminary and final reports, with a simple box to be ticked on completion, will not give an accurate picture of the work that is under way. Progress is far more nuanced than a binary tick-box can convey. Instead, progress will be reported under thematic headings to provide an overall picture of developments.
Workstreams that are not dependent on legislation are already very much under way. We are pressing ahead where there is a clear agreement on options that are to be delivered, and we are committed to working through options for which further discussion with and consideration by partners is required.
We will introduce comprehensive primary legislation, covering the necessary legislative changes in a single instrument where possible. When it is necessary, that will be supported by secondary legislation, to avoid a piecemeal approach. I recognise that the development and scrutiny of legislation takes time and requires consultation, and that it will also be subject to the outcome of the Scottish parliamentary elections in a few months.
In doing that work, I am committed to adopting a collaborative and inclusive approach to engagement with the whole policing community. I recognise the key role that staff associations will play in that regard. As we progress implementation, it will be vital to work closely with partners to determine the next steps. We will build on recent progress, and we are confident that the resulting improvements will strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.
I again thank Dame Elish Angiolini and all those who were involved in helping her to produce her report. I look forward to discussing with the committee the report, its recommendations and the wider issue of police complaints handling.