Report Summary
Issued 7 August 2025, this FOI response provides information held regarding board membership, governance activity and the member appointment process. It also explains that some of the information is already available and that part of the request exceeds the cost of compliance.
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Response
The Scottish Police Authority has considered your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).
In terms of part one of your request, the Authority can confirm that some information is held.
Names, biographies and registers of interest for all current Board Members are available on the Authority’s website by clicking on each Member’s name.
For Members from 1 January 2020, who are no longer Members, names are listed below, registers of interest provided and biographies provided where held. All other biographies are no longer held as this information was input and updated directly on our website and deleted when Members stood down.
Any conflict of interest declared by a Member is recorded in the relevant minute for Authority and committee meetings under the heading ‘Declaration of Interest or connections’.1 See our response to part two of your request regarding minutes for Authority and committee meetings for 1 January 2020 and 1 January 2025.
In terms of part two of your request, the Authority can confirm that some information is held.
Minutes for public sessions of Authority and committee meetings from 2023 to date are available on the Authority’s website.
Minutes for public sessions of Authority and committee meetings from 2020 to 2022 are provided. However, no minutes are held for the People Committee for 2020 as it did not exist at that time, and there were no public sessions of the Legal Committee or the Exceptional Circumstances Committee in 2020, 2021 or 2022.
Minutes for private sessions of Authority and committee meetings over the period are held. However, we are unable to provide this information as it would prove too costly within the context of the fee regulations.[3] Section 20 of the Authority’s Corporate Governance Framework lists circumstances in which meetings may be held in private, and papers and reports need not be published. Minutes for approximately 200 private sessions are held for the period 1 January 2025 to 1 January 2025. These minutes range from 1 to 10 pages long and would require individual review by relevant Heads of Service as well as, in some cases, the Authority’s Head of Legal to identify sensitive and confidential information to be redacted. We estimate it would take on average 30 minutes to review each minute. The Authority has assessed that the £600 cost limit within the Act equates to 40 hours of work, and so, aggregated with time spent on your full request this would exceed the cost threshold.
If you narrowed the scope of your request, for example, to a particular issue over a shorter time period, this may allow us to carry out a reasonable search.
Attendance by Members at Board and committee meetings is recorded in the minute, therefore available in the minutes on our website and those provided with this response. Overall Membership and Attendance for Members is also recorded in the Annual Report and Accounts each year. Decisions are approved or otherwise and noted in the minute.3 No information is held regarding any votes during this time period.
Correspondence and reports involving Police Scotland operational oversight are held. However, we are unable to provide these as it would prove too costly within the context of the fee regulations.5 One of the Authority’s core functions is to support and oversee improvement in policing. In terms of our functions, this part of your request is so broad that it applies to a significant amount of information. For example, correspondence held over the period requested would require review of more than 1500 records alone. The Authority has assessed that the £600 cost limit within the Act equates to 40 hours of work, and this would exceed the cost threshold.
As per our earlier advice, if you narrowed the scope of your request to a particular issue, over a shorter time period, this may allow us to carry out a reasonable search.
In terms of part three of your request, the Authority can confirm that some information is held.
Information packs for appointment of members and a Chair to the Board, and links to published news on the Authority’s website regarding board vacancies and appointments are provided. These provide some detail on board member selection and appointment.
- Board Member Vacancies – 9 April 2025
- Appointment of SPA Chair – 28 March 2025
- Board Member Appointments – 10 June 2024
- Board Member Vacancies – 30 January 2024
- Board Member Appointments – 22 March 2021
- Appointment of SPA Chair – 18 January 2021
However, we can advise that member recruitment, selection and appointment is a matter for the Public Appointments Team and Scottish Government ministers.
Information may be available by contacting Scottish Government at contactus@gov.scot
