Podcast Transcript – Scottish Police Authority S22 17/18

I’m here with one of our Senior Managers, Mark Roberts, to talk about a new report on the Scottish Police Authority. Mark, could you explain what this report’s all about?
This is the fifth annual report that we’ve made to the Scottish Parliament about the Scottish Police Authority following the annual audit. And what we’ve found is that the report shows some improvements in terms of the leadership, the governance, the financial management of the Scottish Police Authority. The last year has seen changes in the leadership of the both the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland, much more improved governance arrangements, and much more effective financial management arrangements in place. So, we feel more positive about the organisation than we have in previous years. 
What exactly has improved around the governance?
There’s much more clarity around the openness of the meetings for both the board and its committees. And also, a general sense that things are operating in a much more controlled and much more effective manner than which they have done in the past. 
Your report also notes that financial challenges remain. What are the main issues we’re talking about today?
The main issues is that the SPA’s revenue budget, it’s day-to-day spending, is still operating in deficit. In 2017/18 there was a deficit of £37.9m. As I said, financial management arrangements have improved, and there is now a plan in place that they will return to a balanced budget position by 2020/21. However, there are longer term risks. Beyond that, we’re anticipating that they’ll return to a deficit position, and that’s one of the major challenges for the organisation going forward.
You picked out a few specific things in your report as well, including the increased use of consultancy and external professional support. What’s going on there and is it a concern?
That’s right. We noted in our report that in 2017/18 there had been more of a doubling to £4.3m in terms of the use of external consultants and support. That’s a reflection of the amount of transformational reform work that’s gone on in the Scottish Police Authority. That’s perhaps not to be … is not a surprise for an organisation that spends more than a billion pounds every year and is indicative of the amount of change that is going on. What’s really important is that the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland are able to learn from the external advisers who they’ve got, so there’s some transfer of knowledge into the organisation and that they’re able to get all the benefits from that external advice that they possibly can.
How big a risk to the force’s plans is the ongoing uncertainty around the devolution of railway policing in Scotland?
There’s obviously been a large amount of uncertainty in the past year about what is going to happen in terms of railway policing. The current situation, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice having said that all options for the devolution of railway policing are still on the table, means that uncertainty is going to continue. 
What our concern is here is that this continues to occupy a large amount of time and attention, and resource within Police Scotland in particular. And that has to be balanced against the needs of the wider strategic change plans that the organisation has. 
With that said then, what does all this mean progress towards the force’s long term vision of policing in Scotland? Are they on course?
The long-term vision is set out in Policing 2026, which has a very ambitious vision for policing in Scotland. Are they on course is hard to judge at this moment as it’s so critical that they get things like their estates strategy and their workforce strategy, and perhaps most importantly, their ICT strategy delivered and implemented. We’ve said in the report that there has been insufficient progress on the estates strategy and the workforce strategy. And we highlight that the ICT strategy, while it has now been approved by the Scottish Police Authority, it’s still unclear where the cost of that, an estimated £289m, is going to come from. 
Why’s that ICT strategy so important?
Because … it’s important because the ICT strategy will enable the change in the way that Police Scotland operate. Which will allow them to free up resources, free up offices, free up staff, free up money to plug that hole they have in their long-term budgets. 

Finally, then, what’s the overall message you are giving to the SPA in this report?
We think the SPA has genuinely turned a corner in the last year. There is still a lot of work to do, but we feel much more positively about the position that they’re in than in previous years.
Mark, thank you very much. And if you want to read our Scottish Police Authority report you can download it from our website - audit-scotland.gov.uk. 
ENDS