Resources Committee

Main Items of Business
Monitoring, planning and oversight
• 2024/25 Provisional Year End Outturn
• 2025/26 Revenue and Capital updates
• Medium/Long Term Financial Plan
• Policing of the Commonwealth Games 2026 Finance Principles
• Transformation and Oversight of Benefits
• Pre-approval Reporting: Financial Regulations & Estates
• Surplus Assets Proposed Disposals
• Procurement Performance Report

Business Case Scrutiny & Oversight
• Contract Award: Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
• Interim Finance System Full Business Case
• Change Request x 3: Microsoft Office 365, National Law Enforcement Data Service (NLEDS) and GDPR Unstructured Data Project
• Data Migration End of Project Report

Key Issues Raised
Financial Monitoring & Planning
• 2024/25 outturn – The Committee commend the work to deliver a break-even outturn. Members agree it is testimony to the good work of Police Scotland’s Finance Team and their close partnerships with budget holders.
• The Committee explored how the learning from identified impacts of reductions to officer numbers was being considered in budget planning so that front-line services are protected and agreed this must be a priority.
• Assurance was given that there is a focus on aligning capital spend in the current and future years to strategic priorities for policing in Scotland. This is coordinated through the Capital Investment Taskforce Group.
• 2025/26 period 1 – No areas of concern were highlighted. The key financial threats and opportunities remain as previously reported to the Committee in the budget approval paper.
• Medium and long-term financial planning – The progress to date was recognised. Financial planning seeks to demonstrate where capital spend can have the most effective impact on improving policing in Scotland. Members would like to see an enhanced narrative of how the police spending has provided benefits to the Service, the public and the wider Criminal Justice Sector.
• Change reporting - There was lengthy discussion about how the work to further improve benefits reporting, workforce planning and estates masterplan will support delivery of the 2030 Vision.
• Over the coming months, the priority will be to ensuring robust oversight of transformation and to develop the narrative to demonstrate how transformation activity links to the 2030 Vision: Safer Communities, Less Crime, Supported Victims and Thriving Workforce.
• Commonwealth Games 2026 - An update on planning was considered and Members noted Police Scotland’s key underlying financial planning assumption is that there will be no financial gain or detriment to Policing as a result of delivering a safe and secure event.

Procurement
• The bi-annual Procurement Performance Report evidenced very high levels of compliance.

Business Cases
• Interim Finance System Replacement –Business Justification Case: Members considered the proposal for an interim finance system to replace the current unsupported system. Discussion focused on how this interim solution would be aligned to the eventual longer-term solution. The Committee was assured that appropriate mitigation actions will be taken to manage risk in what is an aggressive timeline.

Change Requests
• Three change requests considered: Microsoft Office 365, National Law Enforcement Data Service (NLEDS) & GDPR Unstructured. For each request the Committee scrutinised how learning from each project had been cascaded across the organisation to ensure continuous improvement.

End of Project Reports
• COS Data Migration: The Committee noted the success of this project in achieving the intended objectives. The assurance that learning about project team resilience is now applied across all projects was particularly welcomed by the committee.

Conclusions/ Actions Reached
• Financial implications of plans to deliver the 2030 Vision to be considered by this committee when sufficiently developed – it is anticipated this will be towards the end of the calendar year.
• Given the need for close tracking of Capital spend, P2 Financial Monitoring to be shared with Members by correspondence when available.
• Approval of budget virement to reduce Fleet’s budget because of accelerated spend in 2024/25 and reallocate that reduction to the slippage figure within the overall capital budget.
• Reporting to committee will be improved so that there is a greater understanding of what material benefit the extra officer hours and efficiencies are having on service delivery.
• Approval of contract award: Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
• Approval of Business Justification Case: Interim Finance System Replacement
• Approval x 3 of Change Requests