Police bosses accused of ‘freezing’ staff out of key talks

Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority have come under heavy criticism from MSPS after staff were “frozen out” of discussions about the force’s budget.

It has emerged the SPA has decided to hold a number of its committees behind closed doors, including the finance and investment committee.

MSPS told senior figures from the watchdog they were unhappy the Scottish Police Federation and Unison had been excluded from the discussions.

Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell said: “The police federation feel like they’ve been frozen out. The very rank-andfile officers that represent the core of our police force have had absolutely no contact with Police Scotland or the SPA on the budget.”

Labour MSP Mary Fee, the committee’s convener, said: “It would appear you had better relationships with your staff organisations in the past. Not to have carried them on the journey of transition by keeping an open dialogue is really quite disappointing.”