BI-ANNUAL JOINT HEALTH & WELLBEING & HEALTH & SAFETY THEMATIC REPORT

Members considered the paper that had been submitted to outline progress made in relation to relevant strategic commitments and assess the impact in improving performance, mitigating strategic risks and delivering recommendations from audits/inspections. In addition to the submitted report the following was discussed.

• Members considered separate summaries on Health & Safety and Health & Wellbeing and discussed these matters at length.
• The effort to embed a culture of comprehensive near miss accident and incident reporting across all business areas was welcomed by the committee. This Committee has been supportive of the work to improve data so that the organisation can understand the challenges and use the learning to drive improved outcomes for officers and staff. Assurance was provided that close monitoring of completion rates for Officer Safety Training continues to be a priority area for Police Scotland to ensure officers are safely deployable.
• In response to a question about how we effectively support officers and staff in rural areas, it was agreed that future Officer Safety Training reporting will include disaggregated data showing breakdown of rural/urban locations.
• A continuing request of this committee is that committee reports include evidence of impact and evaluation of wellbeing provisions, so that the Authority can be assured the workforce is effectively supported and that the investment is being effectively targeted. The Committee expect that the evaluation data can be used to inform future decisions about wellbeing.
• Members heard that a recent internal restructure has created greater capacity for the Police Scotland People & Development function which will mean that the next bi-annual Wellbeing Report is expected to evidence further progress against the Health & Wellbeing Action Plan milestones which was welcomed by the Committee.
• The benchmarking data and insights will be developed so that better reporting of impact and clearer understanding of improved outcomes is routinely reported.
• Clarity was sought as to the governance route for any significant Estates Health and Safety matters and DCC Speirs explained any such matters were reported to internal Police Scotland meetings. The DCC committed to including relevant Estates information in future People Committee H&S Reporting.

Members noted the report and agreed the following actions.

PC-20250828-001: Future Health & Safety Reports to include disaggregated Officer Safety Training data which shows the breakdown between rural/urban locations.

PC-20250828- 002: Committee to have oversight of the evaluation of wellbeing provision so that assurance can be given the workforce is being supported.

PC-20250828-003: Future Health & Safety reports to include oversight of any Estates issues so that the Authority has appropriate oversight of any relevant matters.