The total reduction in shift allowance that is paid to police staff across Scotland will be almost 30 per cent and the average reduction in pay for Scotland’s police force will be 6 per cent.Coupled with increased pension contributions, a proposed two-year increment freeze, a reduction in overtime rates to time and a third, and a reduction in public holidays to four in each force, the cuts are set to impact profoundly on the ability of Scotland’s police to carry out their essential day-to-day duties, not to mention that the cuts will jeopardise the livelihoods of police staff and their families up and down the country.However—I hope that the justice secretary will listen to this point—the Scottish Government has been offered costed alternatives to that course of action.