The Scotsman

Acting police chief claims progress being made on low staff morale

- By LYNSEY BEWS tom.peterkin@scotsman.com

Police Scotland has begun to address concerns surroundin­g morale following a scathing assessment from the organisati­on representi­ng rank and file officers, MSPS have been told.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) said many officers were too “scunnered” by their working conditions to raise grievances as they believe nothing will change.

However the senior police officer standing in for the chief constable admitted that while “we did not do enough to bring our people with us”, significan­t progress was now being made.

Deputy Chief Constable Designate Iain Livingston­e was appearing before Holyrood’s Justice Sub-committee on Policing to answer questions on the force’s procedures for internal complaints.

The SPF highlighte­d a recent staff survey in which only 8 0 Deputy Chief Constable Designate Iain Livingston­e per cent of officers said they believed the service was genuinely interested in their wellbeing.

The organisati­on said the small number of grievances being raised by officers indicated “a fundamenta­l lack of confidence” in the complaints process.

Meanwhile Unison, the main union for police staff, said it believed there were still gaps in the provisions for internal complaints.

DCC Livingston­e said: “I do recognise the SPF presented quite a challengin­g position – I am not in any way saying there concerns lack validity, what I am saying is we have begun to address them.”

He said while the force had got things wrong in the past, “there is an opportunit­y now to say, actually, a sustainabl­e organisati­on is only going to last if we are investing in our people. I think we’ve made significan­t progress in recent months, years,” he added.

DCC Livingston­e said regular meetings with the SPF are being held to pick up their concerns.

The Profession­al Standards department within the force has been restructur­ed, while the Counter-corruption Unit (CCU) has been renamed the Anti-corruption Unit, he added.

The CCU was overhauled following a string of allegation­s raised against its officers and a row over data breaches linked to journalist­s’ sources.

ACC Livingston­e said: “My observatio­ns were that it (CCU) lost its focus.”

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