Report detail

Criminal Justice Committee – Pre-budget scrutiny

On Wednesday 5 November 2025, I attended the Criminal Justice Committee alongside our Vice Chair Alasdair Hay and Chief Executive Chris Brown, to provide evidence as part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny of the 2026/27 policing budget.

The Authority provided a written submission to the Committee in advance of the session, setting out clearly the requirements for next year’s budget based. Our evidence session, followed a panel with the Chief Constable, DCC Alan Speirs and Lynn Brown, Interim Head of Finance.

During the Authority’s evidence session, the Chief Executive was asked to provide further information in relation to the Authority's corporate function and benchmarking with other similar organisations. That information has been provided and is referenced in the Chief Executive’s report at Item 6 on today’s agenda.

Digital Justice & Policing 2025 Conference

On Thursday 23 October 2025, I attended FutureScot’s Digital Justice & Policing 2025 conference and input to discussions on ‘Accelerating the Modernisation of Justice Services In Scotland’.

The conference brought together key stakeholders from frontline justice services in Scotland, including the police, courts, legal community, victim support agencies and prisons. We discussed how technology and innovation is reshaping justice services, with the aim of improving efficiencies, but also helping citizens who interact with the system.

My input focused on the oversight of policing, particularly in relation to the adoption and use of new technologies. The key question posed was: how can Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority embrace new and emerging technology while building confidence in policing?

I reinforced the Authority and Police Scotland’s commitment to ensuring the adoption of any new technology is done in a legal and proportionate way that balances the need to keep people safe with their rights to privacy. I also spoke about the need to ensure communication and consultation with the public and stakeholders in a way that builds trust, confidence and understanding. I also highlighted the learning that shaped the introduction of a robust rights-based pathway and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Authority and Police Scotland.

Regional Police Scrutiny Engagement

The most recent round of engagement with our Local Authority Police Scrutiny Convenors took place earlier this month. I am grateful to our Vice Chair, Alasdair Hay who led the Authority’s input to the three sessions. Discussions focused on community cohesion and Police Scotland’s community activity as well as scrutiny and accountability arrangements.

COSLA Annual Conference 2025

I was delighted to attend and contribute at COSLA’s Annual Conference in St. Andrew’s on Friday 14 November 2025. The conference had a focus on the future of localism this year.

I input to a panel discussion on civility in public life included representatives from academia, local government and the media. COSLA, along with other UK local government associations, is participating in the Civility in Public Life Programme, which aims to address the rise in abuse, intimidation, and misinformation directed at councillors and officers. This initiative highlights that such behaviour undermines local democracy and discourages people from standing for election, and it calls for action to ensure the safety of those in public service. The programme includes efforts to set good standards for discourse, understand the impact of abuse, and support councillors and officers in dealing with these issues. The Authority is fully involved in the work led by COSLA on civility in public life and we are linking this to wider work underway on community cohesion.

Parliamentary Engagement

Since taking office as Chair earlier this year, I have committed to regular engagement with the Authority’s key stakeholders, including parliamentarians.

I met with Douglas Ross MSP and Liam Kerr MSP prior to Parliament’s summer recess. My engagement continued with the Convener of the Criminal Justice Committee, Audrey Nicoll MSP and seperately with Pauline McNeill MSP on Wednesday 8 October 2025. The Chief Executive also joined me for these recent meetings.

With Audrey Nicoll MSP, we discussed the recent National Conversation on Police Scotland’s potential use of Live Facial Recognition in Scotland; what the next steps and consultation phase might look like and how to engage with the committee on this topic going forward.

With Pauline McNeill MSP we discussed community policing, the Estates Masterplan and what that meant for local stations and workforce wellbeing.

Both were constructive meetings that helped outline priorities and provide further information on key topics.

Scottish Police Federation

On Monday 10 November 2025, Tom Halpin, SPA Board Member and I met with representatives of the Scottish Police Federation to discuss a range of issues including training and development, the consultation on proposed new and amended regulations and the policing budget.

I am grateful to Federation representatives for their ongoing constructive dialogue.

Diversity Staff Association Engagement

Since the last Authority meeting, I have met with representatives of the Scottish Women’s Development Forum (SWDF) and the Scottish LGBTI Police Association. It was great to hear about the wide range of work they are involved in, and I am grateful for their ongoing work to support policing in Scotland.

During our discussions we touched on the issues that each Diversity Association feels are important, and I hope to be able to hear more on this during further planned engagement sessions in the coming months.

National Crime Agency

On Monday 17 November 2025 I meet with the National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA offers specialist capabilities and capacity to Police Scotland to tackle serious and organised crime. The organisations have a mature relationship and are an excellent demonstration of collaborative working in order to keep people and communities safe in Scotland. The visit helped us to understand further the critical role the NCA play in disrupting crime in Scotland.

We received an update on the threat posed to Scotland by synthetic opioids and the work the NCA are undertaking with Police Scotland to disrupt this. The NCA discussed the SPA Forensic Services model in Scotland and the specialist capability that we have.

We received updates on the National Cyber Crime Unit and the work the NCA are leading on in the implementation of Casey Audit Recommendations.

APCC & NPCC Partnership Summit

On Tuesday 18 November 2025 I attended the APCC and NPCC Partnership Summit. The summit was an excellent learning opportunity to hear from Policing organisations across the United Kingdom. There was a focus on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Policing and how it can help enhance and add value and drive efficiencies in the Policing system.

There was also a focus on how different Policing organisations across the UK are looking at and measuring productivity.

Metropolitan Police

On Wednesday 19 November 2025 I met with representatives from the Metropolitan Police to discuss their approach to Live Facial Recognition. This visit helped to inform our future oversight and scrutiny of any potential adoption of LFR by Police Scotland. It helped us understand operational deployment of this technology and also the role of Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime in overseeing the use of this technology.