TOOTHLESS, POINTLESS & AIMLESS
Watchdog issues withering verdict on controversy-plagued police quango
SCOTLAND’S police quango has been criticised in a damning report for failing to hold top brass to account.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said morale at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) had suffered amid a string of controversies.
Former chairman Andrew Flanagan quit after being accused of running the SPA ‘like the Kremlin’ by members of Holyrood’s public audit committee – while his predecessor, Vic Emery, was forced out after an internal revolt.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, Gillian Imery, said in the HMICS report that this had caused ‘confusion’, while there was also a ‘lack of rigour or effectiveness in holding the Chief Constable to account’.
The report also found that ‘few members of the public understand or are interested in the work of the SPA’.
The watchdog said there had ‘now been three different Chairs of the SPA, each of whom has had a different view about how the organisation should fulfil its statutory functions’.
This, she said, ‘leads to confusion about how the SPA should fulfil its governance role’ and there has been ‘limited progress’ in tackling structural issues.
She added that this ‘lack of pace has had a profound effect’ on ‘morale and wellbeing’.
Mrs Imery said current chairman Professor Susan Deacon and a number of board members ‘are acting well outwith their core nonexecutive role, contrary to agreed job descriptions and guidelines’.
There is ‘no clear vision, strategy or plan in place for the SPA’, while ‘a perception pervades of a passive approach’.
The report added: ‘A lack of effective impact assessment of some operational policing policy decisions has given rise to a number of reputational issues.’
HMICS said it ‘considers that the SPA still requires to fully demonstrate its added value to policing in
‘Lack of rigour or effectiveness’
Scotland both through its statutory role and its relationships’.
It added: ‘We believe that the model can work and the SPA will be able to fulfil its statutory duties with the right leadership and supporting resources in place.’
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘It’s clear no one really knows what the SPA is supposed to be doing, but still don’t think it’s doing a good job.
‘The SNP has created this bizarre situation and must sort it out urgently as police officer morale continues to decline.’
The HMICS findings are among the most damning ever produced by the organisation, and will come as another blow to the SPA, which has been mired in controversy since its creation in 2013.
It was at the centre of a major row after former Chief Constable Phil Gormley quit amid allegations of bullying.
The SPA had rubber-stamped his return while an investigation into the claims was ongoing but was slapped down by then Justice Secretary Michael Matheson. Mr Gormley quit last year.
This month, SPA chief executive Hugh Grover stepped down after less than a year with a pay deal that could be worth up to £30,000.
Last year, it emerged the SPA had granted payments totalling £67,000 to help Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick move house – and paid her £53,000 tax bill.
Professor Deacon said: ‘The SPA board is actively taking forward a range of work to progress improvements in the leadership and governance of policing, much of which is actively addressing issues identified in the HMICS report.’