Police bodies are ‘lacking leadership’ on finances
● Watchdog slams police finances ● Sturgeon under fire at Holyrood
Police bodies have come under fire over weak financial leadership amid fears of a looming £190 million funding black hole by the end of the decade.
Public spending watchdogs have branded the situation “unacceptable” at the Scottish Police Authority after issuing a third consecutive annual audit which questions the body’s control of its purse strings, this time for 201516.
Nicola Sturgeon was criticised by the opposition leader at First Ministers Questions in Holyrood who branded it a “damning” indictment of SNP police reforms.
Scotland’s police bodies have come under fire over weak financial leadership amid fears of a looming £190 million funding black hole by the end of the decade.
Public spending watchdogs have branded the situation at the Scottish Police Authority “unacceptable” after issuing the third consecutive annual audit which questions body’s control of its purse strings, this time for 2015-16.
Nicola Sturgeon was criticised at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood by the opposition leader, who branded it a “damning” indictment of SNP police reforms. Audit Scotland condemned inaccurate records and says poor financial management led to another “challenging” annual audit, with corrections needed to the SPA’S accounts.
The forecast overspend of £17.5m for 2016-17 means that Police Scotland could be facing a cumulative deficit of £188.2m by the end of the current Parliamentary term, today’s audit finds.
These projections include the Scottish Government’s commitment to maintain a real terms increase in the policing budget for the duration of the current parliamentary session.
Auditor general Caroline Gardner said: “The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland are among the largest and most important public bodies in the country. It’s therefore unacceptable that I’ve had to report to the Parliament on weak financial leadership and management in all three years of their existence.”
The authority oversees the new national force, Police Scotland, which was founded three years ago, but has been beset by financial problems, including a £20m reveue overspend in 2015-16 and a “failed” IT system which saw £19m written off.
Audit Scotland says the police authority needs to be more open about how it allocates funding to Police Scotland and what this is expected to achieve.
The SPA oversaw £1.1 billion of spending in 2015-16 and has allocated Police Scotland £972.9m for 2016-17, but the report criticised the “very limited publiclyavailable detail” on what the money is uused for, which “impedes effective scrutiny and transparency.” Ms Sturgeon said the report had highlighted both Police Scotland and the SPA have taken steps to improve financial leadership and governance.
SPA chairman Andrew Flanagan said the annual report and accounts for 2015-16 again demonstrates “continued progress” in the reform of policing and the delivery of further financial savings and efficiencies.