Report Summary
Issued 28 July 2026, this FOI response relates to the Authority's Whistleblowing policy and instances of whistleblowing since 2021. Full disclosure.
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Response
The Scottish Police Authority has considered your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).
1. How many incidences of whistleblowing has Scottish Police Authority recorded in each of the last five financial years (please break down by year, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26)?
|
Year |
SPA recorded instances of Whistleblowing |
|
2021/22 |
1 |
|
2022/23 |
0 |
|
2023/24 |
1 |
|
2024/25 |
0 |
|
2025/26 |
0 |
2. Does your whistleblowing policy encourage or direct whistleblowers to raise concerns with a "prescribed person" (as defined under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998)? If so, please specify which prescribed person(s) are referenced.
Yes, the SPA Whistleblowing policy provides a link to the up to date list of Prescribed Persons under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014 (Section 12.2).
3. Does your whistleblowing policy or process guarantee anonymity to individuals who raise a concern? If so, please provide a copy of the relevant section of the policy addressing this.
Yes, the SPA Whistleblowing policy explicitly states that the Authority values anonymous disclosures (Section 11) and recognises that individuals may prefer to raise concerns with anonymity. They can do by utilising the SPA Complaints Policy.
4. Does your whistleblowing policy include a non-recrimination or non-retaliation provision, protecting whistleblowers from detriment or reprisal as a result of raising a concern? If so, please provide a copy of the relevant section of the policy addressing this.
Yes, the SPA Whistleblowing policy outlines that protection from detriment as a result of making the disclosure will exist at all points during an employee’s employment with the Authority (Section 14.2).
5. Has your internal whistleblowing policy been subject to any external review, audit, or assessment (by an external body, auditor, regulator, or independent consultant) within the last five years? If so, please provide:
-
- the name of the body/organisation that conducted the review;
- the date of the review; and
- a copy of any resulting report or summary of findings, subject to any applicable exemptions
The SPA Whistleblowing policy has not been subject to external review, audit or assessment within the last five years. However, it has been subject to internal self-assessment against recognised external good practice benchmarks Whistleblowing Commission (now known as Protect) Code of Practice for effective whistleblowing arrangements and ISO37002:2021 Whistleblowing Management Systems Guidelines.
- SPA Whistleblowing Report presented to the Audit Risk & Assurance Committee (ARAC) in July 2021 references self-assessment against Whistleblowing Commission (now known as Protect) Code of Practice for effective whistleblowing arrangements
- SPA Whistleblowing Annual Update presented to ARAC in Aug 2023 references self-assessment against ISO37002:2021 Whistleblowing Management Systems Guidelines
Both documents referenced above are attached as separate documents as they are no longer available via the SPA website.
