Who We Are

The Scottish Police Authority is independent of both the Scottish Government and policing. It is the primary governance body for policing in Scotland, and was established as a public body on 1 April 2013 by the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. It was set up to hold the Chief Constable to account; promote, support and oversee improvement in policing. It is also responsible for the management and delivery of Forensic Services in Scotland and Independent Custody Visiting Scotland.

In this section, find out more about the Authority’s priorities, the Board and the Leadership team.

Who We Are

What We Do

The Scottish Police Authority is responsible for maintaining policing. It has four specific areas of responsibility:

promoting the policing principles

supporting continuous improvement

keeping policing under review

holding the Chief Constable to account.

This section tells you in outline what the Authority does.

What We Do

Complaints

Are you dissatisfied with the service you have received from policing in Scotland?

The Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland and the Police Investigations and Reviews Commissioner (PIRC) all have a role to play in considering complaints about policing in Scotland.

In this section, find out who to direct your complaint to. We also welcome written communication in Gaelic (see our Gaelic Language Plan).

Complaints

Publication Library

The Authority is committed to conducting its activity in an open and transparent manner, and in a way that builds trust and confidence in policing.

In this section we aim to make as much of our information as possible available, accessible and searchable. Our publication scheme summarises all of the information we publish. This aims to improve public access to the information we hold and encouraging public awareness of, and participation in, the decisions we make.

Where possible we provide a suitable HTML alternative and / or make documents accessible. Please contact us if you would like to request a corporate publication in an alternative format.

Scottish Police Authority - Publication Scheme

Committee

Topic

Senior Management Team Expenses - Q3 2022-23

Published: 02 August 2023

Publication

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Custody Visiting Annual Report 2022-23

Published: 02 August 2023

Publication Policing Performance Committee

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Members Q2 Expenses 2022-23

Published: 28 July 2023

Publication Authority Meetings

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Members Q3 Expenses 2022-23

Published: 28 July 2023

Publication Authority Meetings

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Police Reform Information Sheet

Published: 19 June 2023

Publication

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SPA Corporate Strategy 2023-2026

Published: 28 April 2023

Publication

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Joint Equalities Outcomes for Policing

Published: 27 April 2023

Publication Board Meetings

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Police Scotland Performance Framework 2022/23

Published: 27 April 2023

Publication Policing Performance Committee

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SPA Budget 2023/2024

Published: 27 April 2023

Publication Board Meetings

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Plana Gàidhlig airson 2023 gu 2028

Published: 27 April 2023

Publication

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SPA Gaelic Language Plan 2023-28 English version

Published: 27 April 2023

Publication

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Performance Framework 22-23

Published: 26 April 2023

Publication Policing Performance Committee

View Publication

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Publication Library

Senior Management Team Expenses - Q3 2022-23

Custody Visiting Annual Report 2022-23

Members Q2 Expenses 2022-23

Members Q3 Expenses 2022-23

Police Reform Information Sheet

SPA Corporate Strategy 2023-2026

Joint Equalities Outcomes for Policing

Police Scotland Performance Framework 2022/23

SPA Budget 2023/2024

Plana Gàidhlig airson 2023 gu 2028

SPA Gaelic Language Plan 2023-28 English version

Performance Framework 22-23