MSPs fear Scotland's police 'in crisis' over finances

MSPs on the public audit committee voiced worries about police finances

MSPs have voiced fears Scotland's police force is "an organisation in crisis" over a £200m financial gap.

Members on the public audit committee questioned Auditor General Caroline Gardner about policing budgets.

She said updated projections suggested Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority would run a cumulative deficit of almost £200m by 2021.

SNP MSP Alex Neil called this "totally unacceptable" and a sign of "an organisation in crisis" over finance.

Audit Scotland issued a highly critical report of Scotland's policing finances for the third year running in December.

Ms Gardner told MSPs that "the lack of progress that's been made in demonstrating financial leadership is unacceptable for any public body, but particularly for one of the scale and importance of policing in Scotland", adding that there was "scope for more transparency" in how the £1.1bn policing budget is spent.

She said: "To illustrate the scale of the future financial challenge, I've updated my projections of the potential funding gap facing the SPA and Police Scotland.

"These suggest a cumulative deficit of almost £200m in real terms by the end of this parliamentary session. I consider this projection to be conservative."

Caroline Gardner said the estimated hole in police budgets was a "conservative" estimate

Mr Neil suggested bringing the chief constable and other heads of the police service before the committee to give evidence.

He said: "This is a totally unacceptable performance. There's a general lack of confidence in policing in Scotland at the moment.

"We know that morale is rock bottom amongst the police force, I know that the chief constable believes he's £60m short of the money that he actually needs to do the job he's been asked to do, so we have to give them their say to see if this is all part and parcel of the same problem.

"But it strikes me that this is an organisation in crisis, in terms of the management of their finances."

Fellow committee member Colin Beattie said the latest report was "deeply disappointing", while Labour's Monica Lennon questioned how the public could have confidence in the force over financial management.

And convener Jenny Marra said the evidence was "incredibly worrying", saying the committee would be inviting police chiefs to give evidence.

'Major refresh'

Police bosses have insisted progress has been made, with an initial long-term financial strategy drawn up in March 2016.

A spokesman for the Scottish Police Authority said bosses "look forward to providing parliament with further assurance" on the "major refresh and strengthening" of leadership.

He said: "While we have acknowledged issues around policing's financial performance, the operational performance of the service remains strong.

"We are not complacent about that because we know that the demands on policing are changing, with an increasing emphasis on vulnerability, private space crimes, and online threats. Addressing that within the level of resources available is challenging.

"Over recent months, the SPA and Police Scotland have been jointly developing the evidence base to deliver a 10-year strategy to reflect and address those changing demands and to build a flexible and sustainable policing service for the future.

"The pace and scale of change must clearly reflect the finances available and the scope for early investment, and it is clear that consideration of the Scottish Government's budget proposals for next year still have some way yet to run. Once the financial settlement for policing is clear, we look forward to publishing the strategy for wider public consultation."