JUSTICE SUB-COMMITTEE ON POLICING AGENDA. 10th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 4 October 2018

Transcription

1 JSP/S5/18/10/A JUSTICE SUB-COMMITTEE ON POLICING AGENDA 10th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 4 October 2018 The Sub-Committee will meet at 1.00 pm in the David Livingstone Room (CR6). 1. Pre-Budget Scrutiny: The Sub-Committee will take evidence from James Gray, Chief Financial Officer, and Martin Low, Acting Director of ICT, Police Scotland; Kenneth Hogg, Interim Chief Officer, Scottish Police Authority. 2. Decisions on taking business in private: The Sub-Committee will decide whether its consideration of a draft report to the Justice Committee on its prebudget scrutiny and whether consideration of its work programme should be taken in private at future meetings. Diane Barr Clerk to the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing Room T2.60 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh Tel: diane.barr@parliament.scot

2 JSP/S5/18/10/A The papers for this meeting are as follows Agenda item 1 Paper by the clerk - Pre-budget scrutiny Private paper - Pre-budget scrutiny JSP/S5/18/10/1 JSP/S5/18/10/2 (P)

3 Introduction Justice Sub-Committee on Policing 10th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5), Thursday 4 October 2018 Pre-budget scrutiny of the Scottish Government s forthcoming draft budget for Note by the clerk 1. Following work undertaken by the Finance and Constitution Committee, the way in which committees conduct scrutiny of the Scottish Government s draft budgets has changed. This will no longer be a process which involves a short period of scrutiny at the point when the draft budget is published (usually in December each year). Now, committees are expected to ensure that they ask budgetrelated questions during all of the work they carry out in a calendar year, such as scrutiny of bills, their own inquiries etc. 2. A summary of their work is then produced and published at least 6 weeks in advance of the Scottish Government s draft budget (i.e. around late October/early November). This will be supplemented with analysis and recommendations from each committee on what they would like to see the Scottish Government prioritise within the relevant policy portfolio. This is called a pre-budget report. 3. The pre-budget report should set out a committee s views on the delivery, impact, and funding of existing policy priorities and any proposed changes, and how these should be funded. The aim is to influence the budget when budget priorities are being set. Committees should seek to influence the budget through constructive dialogue with Ministers, public bodies and other stakeholders as part of this process. 4. The Justice Sub-Committee is currently conducting its pre-budget scrutiny and will produce a short report or letter in due course. This will be sent to the Justice Committee for the purposes of adding to its own overall pre-budget report. Call for views 5. To inform its work, the Justice Sub-Committee launched a call for views. The submissions relevant to today s meeting are set out in the Annex. 6. The particular focus in the call for views was as follows: What is your view on the current trends in funding in the policing portfolio and the Scottish Government s, SPA s and Police Scotland s rationale for these? The plans within the SPA and Police Scotland relating to the proposed ICT strategy (including cyber kiosks), financial management, and future financial plans. 1

4 WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS ANNEX Police Scotland 1. What is your view on the current trends in funding in the policing portfolio and the Scottish Government s, SPA s and Police Scotland s rationale for these? 1.1. There is a commitment to real terms protection for the policing budget, which is extremely beneficial to us, however must be taken in the context of the existing deficit, i.e. the protection is applied to a Police Budget that had an underlying 60m+ revenue deficit in 2016/17. From a Police Scotland specific view, the challenge of eliminating the deficit is increased by the political commitments on Police Officers numbers, which constitute 75% of our cost base Considering the composition of the spend within Police Scotland, which is very heavily weighted towards pay costs, there is a significant sensitivity to changes in pay and employee numbers. Budgetary pressures are increased given commitments to no compulsory redundancies and the enhancement of Public Sector Pay Policy The current capital allocation to the Justice Portfolio, and specifically to policing, is relatively modest at 23m (plus up to 4.6m of capital reform) for 2018/19, and when compared to other portfolios (such as transport, education or health). Given the size of Police Scotland and our asset base, this level of funding results in under-investment and is not sustainable if the current asset base is to be maintained The current approach to funding is to undertake annual spend reviews. From a financial planning perspective Police Scotland would see a significant benefit from agreeing multi-year settlements for both revenue and capital funding in order to assist with more effective medium term financial planning The Justice Portfolio budget funds both Police and Fire pensions, which are unfunded schemes the Police Officer pension scheme currently has a liability of approximately 16bn. At a time when there are ongoing reductions in funding, we are seeing upward pressure on employer pension contributions as a result of continual changes to actuarial assumptions, which has a consequential impact upon the remainder of the Justice budget. 2. The plans within the SPA and Police Scotland relating to the proposed ICT strategy (including cyber kiosks), financial management, and future financial plans Financial Management and Sustainability Across the past three years, significant progress has been made in relation to financial management within Police Scotland. This has included the development of robust financial planning processes; the Investment Governance Framework; 2

5 effective internal scrutiny boards; and a clear commitment from the Force Executive to achieving financial sustainability Although Police Scotland has not yet achieved a balanced budget, it has, since the merger, removed 200m of costs from the annual cost base (as at the end of 2017/18), and the reform programme is on track to deliver 1.9bn of savings as demonstrated below (as at the end of 2016/17): Net Police Reform Savings Target Total Cost Reduction Actual Reform Costs Net Reform Savings In Year Cumulative In Year Cumulative Nonrecurring Cumulative Cumulative , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Total 1, , Table Police Scotland developed a 10 year strategy, Policing 2026: Serving a Changing Scotland ( 2026 Strategy ), which was approved by the SPA Board in June This included a commitment to achieving financial sustainability by the start of 2020/21. The 2027 Strategy is supported by a 3 year implementation plan ( ) detailing how the 2026 Strategy will be delivered; and both 3 and 10 year financial plans. The financial plans support both the delivery of the

6 Strategy, and the elimination of the operating deficit, consistent with the commitment made to achieving this by 2020/21. The most recent revision of the 3 year financial plan, approved by the SPA Board in May 2018, sets out the deficit reduction as follows: 3 Year Financial Plan Opening deficit * Net Expenditure 1, , ,112.2 Total Funding 1, , , ,112.2 Budget Deficit -37.8* Table 2 * Includes non-recurring savings of 8.9m. Recurring deficit is 46.7m The 3 and 10 year financial plans have been developed based on a number of assumptions, including savings delivery from a number of projects and programmes, continued levels of revenue and reform funding from Scottish Government, pay awards for officers and staff and a number of associated assumptions around workforce costs It is recognised that there will be an ongoing need to realise savings and benefits beyond financial year 2020/21 to ensure that the budget remains balanced and financial sustainability is a key objective in the short, medium and long term Digital, Data & ICT Strategy Before Police Scotland came into being on 1st April 2013 under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 the policing technology landscape was fragmented. This was a function of having ten policing organisations with their own priorities and requirements combined with a lack of effective centralised strategic development, planning and funding. It was this highly complex fragmented landscape of different processes, systems, data storage methods and technology infrastructure that Police Scotland inherited when it came into existence in April 2013 a landscape that, apart from a small number of national improvements is still the case today Criminals and terrorists unsurprisingly have also embraced 21 st century technology and ruthlessly exploit society s dependence on these tools. They are investing heavily and the threat will only grow as they access state level technology that previously was only the domain of the military and governments. This is creating an ever increasing gap in the capability of Police Scotland, and the capability of the criminals and terrorists we are trying to combat The Digital, Data & ICT Strategy ( DDICT Strategy ) was developed to address this issue, and is one of the key enablers for the delivery of the

7 Strategy, and for the achievement of financial savings, however the driver for the investment is far greater than the financial savings that will be achieved There are four key objectives highlighted by the Strategy: i. Support Policing 2026 and the 3 Year Implementation Plan Serving a Changing Scotland; ii. Replacing the ageing and complex legacy technology estate; iii. Creating the capacity to support and respond to changing community demand and threat levels; and iv. Help support the delivery of a balanced budget by reducing costs associated with ICT and improving officer/staff efficiency From the DDICT strategy, an Outline Business Case ( OBC ) has been produced, which seeks to address the existing gaps in technology and capability. This OBC was presented to, and approved by, the SPA Board on 27 September The supporting papers for this approval have also been made available to Members of the Justice Sub Committee for Policing The DDICT OBC is a detailed strategy and costed delivery plan that fully integrates the wider DDICT requirements of the service with the programmes outlined in the 2026 Strategy, addresses our legacy issues and will make the service compliant with the new data regulation Specifically, the DDICT OBC seeks to address key challenges around: Data reducing our data silos, improving data quality, harnessing data and information to support better outcomes and exploiting data assets to support decision-making, risk and planning. Data Input reducing the re-keying of data into multiple systems and replacing this with single data entry and enabling multiple re-use. We will look to do the same with our system search capability. Core Operational Systems a single national integrated operational policing system which caters for crime recording, case management and digital evidence capture Mobility Provision of mobile devices and systems access to support officers in the community, reducing the requirement for officers to return to base at the end of a shift to do paperwork and key data input to multiple systems. Analytics and Business Intelligence provision of data analysis and visualisation tools that will provide insight to support our decision making and risk assessment processes Public Contact New customer contact tools to support how members of the public contact and interact with the police. Self-service On-line crime reporting, tracking progress with your crime, community engagement - enhancing public trust and confidence. Partnership Working All of this provides the core platforms to support closer working and information exchange with partners, be that within the Criminal Justice Community, Health, Local Authorities or other Blue 5

8 Light Services. If we don t make real progress within policing then digital information sharing, particularly within the Justice sector, is going to be almost impossible given that most of the process and much of the data originates in and flows from policing The OBC has been developed in line with and is, where appropriate, compliant with HM Treasury Green Book guidance and the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Further, significant time was spend considering the lessons learnt not only from the previous Police Scotland experience of the i6 programme, but we have also learnt from others. Audit Scotland in their Principles for a digital future: Lessons learned from public sector ICT project published in May 2017 provided a set of core principles that reflected the issues and themes that they had identified across not only i6 but multiple major public sector ICT programmes Independent reviews of the OBC, and the development of the OBC, have been conducted by Scott Moncrieff (internal auditors), and by the Scottish Government s Independent ICT Assurance team. Scott Moncrieff confirmed that the OBC is materially complaint with HM Treasury Green Book Standards ; and the SG team provided an amber / green rating, which is the best outcome that an OBC could realistically expect to receive at this stage Digital, Data & ICT Funding The OBC sets out six packages of work for DDICT with the preferred option being package 6, which delivers the full DDICT strategy, by adding projects which enable us to work with our partners. This option ranks first as while it has the highest costs, it secures cashable, efficiency and social benefits equivalent to 1.29 for every 1 spent The estimated funding required to implement the recommended option is 244m in capital funding over 9 years, plus 54m in reform revenue funding. This would deliver an estimated 357m benefits over the same 9 year period A summary of the costs and benefits of all packages are as follows: 6

9 Capital requirement Reform requirement Revenue costs Benefits Net cost / (benefit) Package Package Package Package Package Package * Table 3 * Preferred option Digital, Data & ICT OBC Deliverability The planned delivery approach includes: A transformation led by senior police officers supported closely by senior police staff professionals and subject matter experts. Active, open and transparent engagement with public sector partners to ensure both visibility of Police Scotland change activity that looks at the earliest stage possible for synergies and mutual benefit across the wider public sector planned change activity. The use of external strategic experts where appropriate e.g. a strategic Delivery partner alongside a System Integrator to support core Police Scotland capability/capacity. A series of modular based deliverables utilising a variety of Scottish based Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs). This will not only allow us to let our funding flow back through into the Scottish economy but will also help increase the broader technology skills base in Scotland that in turn will contribute to Scotland s wider technology capability. Ongoing and active use of independent assurance. Adoption of an approach based on a series of flexible modular deliverables we can better manage risk and deliverability to front line operational policing as opposed to a big bang approach. An Intelligent Client approach to delivering the changes needed and proactively engage with and actively manage the delivery of products from third parties. Sharing risk appropriately with our delivery partners and contractors in delivering the change with appropriate and tight contractual underpinning. 7

10 We have established a change network consisting of over 140 police officers, sergeants and Inspectors to act as change champions across the service. Alongside this we have regular meetings with staff and officer associations / representatives to ensure we consult and engage as we develop and roll out the change programmes. Although we have done much in this area we do recognise that, in order to fully land and embed change so that it delivers long term improvement, effective communication is essential across the service and this is a particular area of improvement that we are continuing to develop as a priority Change Delivery - we have developed both an Enterprise Risk capability and a Change Management risk assurance capability to ensure that we have the right resources in place to manage the risks associated with this type of strategic change activity The role of ACC Operational Change & Resilience has been established specifically to ensure that we have a Chief Police officer considering all planning and change impact assessments associated with the programme. This will help to ensure that day to day operational policing impact and capability is taken fully into consideration at every aspect of the planning of the change delivery Throughout the delivery of the projects which will support the achievement of the overarching DDICT, there will be clear governance processes; risk management and mitigation where appropriate; and alignment to the strategic design authority Combined, the structures in place will allow for assurance to be provided to relevant oversight bodies throughout the implementation of the DDICT transformation programme. 8

11 Scottish Police Authority Introduction The Justice Sub-Committee on Policing has sought views on the following matters as part of its pre-budget stage scrutiny process: - What is your view on the current trends in funding in the policing portfolio and the Scottish Government s, SPA s and Police Scotland s rationale for these? - The plans within the SPA and Police Scotland relating to the proposed ICT strategy (including cyber kiosks), financial management, and future financial plans. Trends in Policing Funding, Financial Management and Financial Plans Background 1. The SPA has statutory responsibilities to maintain and support the continuous improvement of policing in Scotland, and so to ensure that the police service is equipped to meet changing needs, expectations and demands both now and in the future. The Authority worked with Police Scotland to develop a 10 year strategy Policing 2026: Serving a Changing Scotland, published in June This strategy sets out a long term vision and objectives for the next decade. The Authority approved in May 2018 a 3 Year Implementation Plan which explains how the strategy will be delivered over its first phase of delivery, along with a 10 year Financial Strategy and a 3 year Financial Plan. Financial planning for policing is driven by the dual requirements of underpinning and facilitating the delivery of the 10 year policing strategy, and doing so while returning Police Scotland to financial balance by eliminating the current operating deficit. Trends in police funding and financial sustainability 2. The SPA and Police Scotland were established in 2013 and since that time significant levels of financial savings have been delivered. The overall trend in police funding since that time is that in cash terms policing today costs approximately the same as it did in at 1.1 billion, and so the cash funding requirement has remained flat. However during that period inflationary and other cost pressures have been absorbed within that flat cash funding profile. That has been made possible by the removal of 200 million per year of costs from the cost base. As a result, Police Scotland estimate that they will exceed the cumulative savings set out in the original business case for police reform, and estimate cumulative savings over the first 15 year period as a result of police reform will total 1.9 billion. 3. Within that context, in setting Police Scotland s budget for the Authority recognised a structural operating deficit in Police Scotland s budget of 47.2 million. Agreement was reached with the Scottish Government to eliminate this operating deficit over a 3 year period. The deficit reduction target for the first year was met. We are currently half way through the 3 year deficit elimination period and remain on track to return Police Scotland to financial balance by The plans for 9

12 delivering this are set out in Police Scotland s budget for , and in its 3 Year Financial Plan approved by the SPA Board on 2 May The agreed trajectory for deficit elimination is as follows. 3 Year Financial Plan Opening deficit * Net Expenditure 1, , , Total Funding 1, , , , Budget Deficit * * Includes non-recurring savings of 8.9m. Recurring deficit is 46.7m. 4. Achieving this plan depends on the delivery of significant further savings from the change and transformation programmes, and continued levels of grant in aid and ring fenced Police Reform funding from Scottish Government which enables the upfront costs of reform to be met in order to deliver recurring savings thereafter. The Scottish Government has committed to real terms funding increases for policing over the lifetime of this Parliament, and that has enabled the Authority to commit recently to a pay increase for police officers valid from 1 September 2018 to 31 March Workforce costs comprise 87% of Police Scotland s total net expenditure, and so securing a multi-year pay agreement is important in enabling medium-term financial planning. 5. Funding allocations specifically to meet the up-front costs of reform and transformation have been made available to the SPA by the Scottish Government each year since These have been essential in meeting the transitional additional costs associated with reform, and are being used in the current year for example to facilitate the following change programmes: - the first phase of the provision of 10,000 mobile devices to police officers giving them remote access to core policing systems; - integration of core operating ICT systems, and creation of a single national network accessible by all officers and staff; - moving to a single payroll system for the entire organisation; - transforming Police Scotland s custody arrangements to create nine criminal justice hubs with more integrated working with partner organisations including health and social care providers. 6. Continued access to this reform funding facility is important in order to maintain the current trajectory of delivering reform, improving efficiency and delivering savings. 7. The capital grant-in-aid allocation in is 23 million plus a capital allocation from the Reform and Transformation fund of up to 4.6 million. It is proving increasingly challenging to support the ongoing requirements of a national service which must maintain a physical estate, fleet of vehicles, ICT and other necessary operational equipment at this level of expenditure. Police Scotland inherited a large asset base which has been significantly streamlined. 10

13 Financial management and planning 8. The respective roles of the Accountable Officer and Chief Financial Officer are clear and financial management arrangements are working well, including the processes for year-end financial assurance. The external audit of the draft Annual Report and Accounts for is currently in its final stages, and it is expected that the audited accounts will be presented to the SPA Board for approval on 24th October 2018, a month earlier than the equivalent stage was reached last year. 9. A clear framework of financial governance and assurance operates to manage the budgetary planning and reporting cycles. Police Scotland s internal governance boards, the SPA Finance Committee, Audit Committee and Board manage the approval of budgets, financial plans, business cases for new investment and contract awards in accordance with the respective schemes of delegation. 10. Police Scotland s Finance team and its financial leadership has been significantly strengthened over the last 18 months, resulting in an improved approach to budgeting and controls over expenditure and prioritisation. Audit Scotland welcomed the frank commentary that accompanied the Budget on the scale of the financial challenge facing policing in Scotland and the higher level of detail provided on planned expenditure. A new Chief Financial Officer was appointed on 1 July In order to support the continuing demands on the finance department, investment has been required to support the organisation in the management and delivery of required savings. A new finance department senior management team structure has therefore been developed, and seven new strategic leads for finance have been in place since May 2018 in order to enable the implementation of a full finance transformation plan. Digital, Data & ICT Strategy Background 1. On 27 September 2018 the SPA Board approved an Outline Business Case on Digital, Data & ICT presented by Police Scotland. This followed the Authority s approval of the related Digital, Data & ICT Strategy and associated Strategic Outline Case on 31 May In turn this work comprised part of the wider 10 year policing strategy Serving a Changing Scotland approved in June 2017, and the 3 Year Implementation Plan, a 10 Year Financial Strategy and a 3 Year Financial Plan all of which were approved by the Authority on 2 May Prior to the establishment of Police Scotland in 2013, the digital, technological and ICT arrangements of the nine former police organisations were largely not integrated, and in the years immediately preceding the creation of Police Scotland investment in ICT diminished. Upgrading digital and ICT capability and moving to a shared platform has been recognised as a priority for Police Scotland since its inception, both to enable policing to keep up with an increasingly digital world and as a critical enabler of wider reforms in policing. The i6 programme in attempted to provide a partial solution to the need for integrated technology. Its failure to deliver the intended benefits was well documented and lessons were learned. 11

14 3. The need now for better Digital, Data and ICT capability is even more urgent. Police Scotland s officers and staff do not have access to the digital, data and ICT support that other UK forces depend on; and the future of policing as set out in our 10 year policing strategy is significantly dependent on this capability being in place as an enabler of further change. Audit Scotland s i6 review, published in March 2017, stated: There was a need to modernise police ICT systems six years ago when the procurement of i6 began. That need has not been met. Police officers and staff continue to struggle with out-of-date, inefficient and poorly integrated systems. This also hinders how Police Scotland interacts and shares information and intelligence with other parts of the justice system. There is an urgent need to determine what the next steps should be, and to carry out an honest assessment of how to procure, develop and deliver the much-needed police IT system. 4. In their audit of the SPA, published in October 2017, Audit Scotland said: It is critical that an ICT strategy capable of delivering the vision described in Policing 2026 is finalised, and more importantly, supported, resourced and implemented. The Outline Business Case approved by the SPA Board on 27 September 2018 is Police Scotland s response to those challenges and sets out a route map to bring the service s capability up to where it should be and to support the wider transformation of policing to meet the rapidly changing demands on the service. Development of the Outline Business Case 5. Some action was taken over the last five years to maintain, and in some cases improve, Police Scotland s ICT capability, based on the existing ICT infrastructure. However the specific work which has led to the production of the Outline Business Case has taken place over the last 18 months. In order to meet Police Scotland s requirements and to deliver the most benefits, a key need identified in 2017 was for a single integrated Data, Digital and ICT strategy, rather than pursuing an ICT solution in isolation (which for example i6 had been). In taking forward the required work, learning was implemented from Audit Scotland s Review of i6 published in March 2017, and from their report on wider lessons learned from public sector ICT projects published in May The resulting Outline Business Case was itself subject to two external independent reviews. Firstly, a review of its compliance with the mandatory guidance contained in the HM Treasury Green Book and incorporated within the Scottish Public Finance Manual was carried out by Scott- Moncrieff. Their conclusion was that Outline Business Case materially complies with Green Book guidance and made recommendations about further work to be done as part of the preparation of subsequent Full Business Cases. Secondly, a Technical Assurance Review of the Outline Business Case proposals was carried out under the direction of the Scottish Government s Chief Information Officer. The overall Red/Amber/Green assessment of delivery confidence awarded was Amber/Green at this stage, and the Review concluded that the DDICT programme has a compelling business case supported by well researched and articulated evidence and made recommendations about next steps. 12

15 Approval of the Outline Business Case 6. The SPA Board s approval of the Outline Business Case on 27 September 2018 is the necessary next step in order to deliver the overall Digital, Data & ICT strategy. The key purposes of an Outline Business Case are to: identify the spending option which optimises value for money; prepare the project for procurement; and enable the necessary funding and management arrangements to be put in place for successful delivery. This Outline Business Case broke down the total requirements into six packages, with the most basic one including only maintaining existing capabilities, and Package 6 delivering the full range of desired benefits. The estimated total amount of funding sought to implement the recommended option (Package 6) which was approved by the SPA Board is 244 million in capital funding over 9 years (with an initial peak in the first and third years); plus 54 million in reform revenue funding. The package offers the greatest value for money, and would deliver the full capability which Police Scotland requires to replace its ageing 20 th century ICT infrastructure with a level of capability expected of a 21 st century police service operating in a digital age. The Board noted that even the most basic package to maintain existing systems would cost an estimated 90 million of capital expenditure over 9 years. In giving its approval the SPA Board endorsed the proposed incremental, phased approach to delivery to ensure that the desired benefits are delivered from each phase before progressing to the next. 7. The SPA Board s approval of the Outline Business Case now enables the production of a range of detailed Full Business Cases for each of the projects within the umbrella of the single Outline Business Case. It also enables the funding to be formally sought, including from Scottish Government, and procurement routes to be explored further. 13

16 UNISON SCOTLAND Introduction UNISON Scotland represents the police staffs who work alongside officers as a vital part of the police team. Our police staffs provide a wide range of skills and specialisms in order to deliver a high-quality service. We welcome this opportunity to contribute to the Sub Committee s pre-budget scrutiny. 1. What is your view on the current trends in funding in the policing portfolio and the Scottish Government's, SPA's and Police Scotland's rationale for these? We are deeply unhappy with the resourcing of Police Scotland. It has been inadequate and both the public and our members have suffered. This lack of resourcing has been compounded by poor decision making. It is the view of many Police Scotland Staff that it is they who are paying for the deficit reduction plan currently being implemented. Policing comes at a cost and we never want that cost to be human life. That 100 officers can be transferred out of back office functions for front line duty at a cost that is deemed worth highlighting in Police Scotland budget proposals is indicative of previous failings not merely of organisation but of budgetary management. Despite its infancy Police Scotland has been encumbered with a heavy history of poor choices and budgetary decisions from legacy forces. The bulk of these have been borne by Police Scotland staff and there is little in indications around funding that this situation is likely to change. Since Police Scotland has been set up there have been any number of plans, drawn up, revised, reworded put in abeyance and polished up for presentation to a workforce worn out by change, transformation and modernisation. Some of the cost of all this can be seen in how much of the budget has been spent on external consultants and contractors. The price paid by our members in additional effort, stress and morale in a struggle to find the creativity necessary to p operate effectively within the means provided, is much more difficult to quantify. The committee s injunction to examine trends is welcome. Police Staff are usually being told by Police Scotland management that often reminded at committees the past is the past, we cannot change it or we are where we are. The lack of a cohesive plan in either organisational or financial terms is why we are wear we are and those failures need to be reflected upon. The largest proportion of Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority budget goes to the salaries of officers and staff. Whereas officers pay and terms are agreed nationally staff have remained on their legacy force or interim terms and conditions for nearly six years. The Staff Pay & Reward Modernisation Programme which seeks to address this is, as has been the trend, once more inhibited by a budget that favours the uniformed officer over the employee. In order to achieve a fair and just 14

17 settlement for our members there has been a further request from money from the Scottish Government over and above the budget. This will be a one-off cost. That it is necessary at all is a further indicator that there is not enough money in the pot to bring this project to its conclusion. While Police Scotland tries to reform, to change, or to transform into the one entity it continues to spend money on day contractors and temporary posts. We feel there is insufficient effort made at utilising and retaining in house skills and talents. The financial cost of this over recent years has been considerable. We would urge the committee to examine why Police Scotland continue to put so many resources into looking outward rather than to its own people to shape the force. Equally resources are being devoted to pursuing the integration of Transport Policing at the behest of the Scottish Government despite not having rationalised from its legacy positions for staff. 2. The plans within the SPA and Police Scotland relating to the proposed ICT strategy (including cyber kiosks), financial management, and future financial plans. Similar to the position of staff on varying terms and conditions the current condition of Police Scotland s ICT systems is a hindrance to allowing the service to become one cohesive whole and fulfil the vision set out in the Police and Fire Reform Act Many IT suites are aging to the extent that support was withdrawn by the programmers. While this has been addressed retrospectively a strategy to integrate and future proof our ICT infrastructure is an absolute necessity. It was UNISON Police Staff Scotland s suggestion as the C3IR Strategic Direction was developed that the money be spent at that time to allow the appropriate work to be done to allow the various systems to talk to each other. Initial investment in doing this would have developed real efficiencies (rather than the cuts and work intensifications often described as efficiencies) and tangible operational improvements. As it stands we have members of staff who live in a legacy area who could not log in and work at the local police station that is nearer their home. It is unsustainable position and we fully support the plan to get the right kit for the officers and staff to get their job done properly. We do however have concerns that there is a tendency in Police Scotland to fetishise the cutting edge of technology at the expense of the systems which should enable the organisation to function. We need investment and a strategy for improvement which does not prioritise drones or retinal ID tech at the expense of getting the basic ICT infrastructure right. This is long overdue. 15