Police Scotland ‘concerned Hate Crime Bill will create additional pressures’

Police Scotland revealed concerns the new Hate Crime Bill will create additional pressures and cited plans to tackle abuse within the force.

An agenda from a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) meeting due to take place on Thursday showed that a request for a £5 million windfall from the Scottish Government to boost the budget was no longer expected to be “fully required”.

The national force, established in 2013, has said it is “committed to encouraging female applicants” but faced a “drop” in the number of female recruits, and now plans to examine a potential link between flexible working and career progression, according to the minutes.

A meeting of the committee of the SPA “discussed the findings in relation to probationer training and the disconnect between senior and middle management on management style and behaviour”, it was noted.

This month 200 new recruits began training and the headcount will be the lowest ever, with 16,600 officers, while some 756 bids for voluntary redundancy or early retirement were lodged.

Chief Constable Jo Farrell revealed her aspiration for Police Scotland to be the “most digitally enabled police force in Europe”, and in her Annual Police Plan said a “robust approach” would be drawn up for allegations of abusive officers.

She cited a proposal to introduce the use of a CCTV system in Aberdeen which can find missing or vulnerable people more quickly and trace suspects, which is not currently in use by Police Scotland.

It includes a function for a description to be entered, but Ms Farrell made a commitment that facial recognition technology would not be used.

In the Annual Police Plan she also called for “wider criminal justice reform” to be “accelerated across the system to deliver better and quicker court outcomes” and revealed plans to “develop a new and robust approach to the investigation of accusations against colleagues”.

But Ms Farrell warned that an “ageing population; a cost of-living crisis driving vulnerability and pressure on other services; civil unrest; new laws and increasingly complex investigations all contribute to growing community need and increasing contact with police”.

The Hate Crime Bill will come into force on April 1, expanding existing legislation to cover comments made in private settings without the intention to offend – prompting criticism from author JK Rowling, as well as lawyers both sides of the border.

Police Scotland’s chief financial officer James Gray revealed that no budget provision had been allocated for “new legislation”.

His submission said: “Legislation – no provision included for new legislation – assumed that such pressures will be fully funded.”

It added: “The Scottish Government’s budget confirmed the funding allocation for policing for 2024-25. Funding uplifts were received in core revenue (£75.7m) and core capital (£13.1m), whilst reform remained at £20.0m with an additional £5.0m transferred from core revenue.

“The budget allocation includes a core budget for a maximum of 16,600 officers (plus externally funded additionality eg Local Authorities) and the police staff baseline post the current VR/VER exercise.”

Before Christmas, Ms Farrell requested an additional £5 million from the Scottish Government for an authorised overspend, but it has been reduced.

A report from the SPA committee said: “Police Scotland do not now expect the £5m additional funding to be fully required.”

The document stated that increases in serious assaults on officers and staff were recorded, along with rape and driving under the influence and hate crime.

Chief executive of the SPA Lynn Brown noted “an 11% increase in violence against train passengers”, along with a 60% increase in reports of sexual offences, along with a “solve rate” which rose by 68%.