Report Summary
This report provides members of the Policing Performance Committee with highlights and insights arising from routine public polling conducted in August 2025.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 16 September 2025
Date : 16 September 2025
Location : online
Background and Context
Earlier in 2025 the Authority ran a competitive tendering exercise to procure future public polling activity 2025-28. In the early summer the Authority re-appointed The Diffley Partnership as the preferred supplier, who will be carrying out public polling on behalf of the Authority, aligned to the Authority’s mission of overseeing Scottish policing in the public interest.
The Authority’s routine public polling, which has shifted from being conducted six-monthly to quarterly, continues to have a focus on trust and confidence in the police, and views on police performance using a set of streamlined core questions. Topical/thematic questions and/or focus groups can also be added on an ad hoc basis as part of the terms within the new contract.
The polling exercises undertaken by the Diffley Partnership form part of their ongoing Understanding Scotland series of analytical publications, and use the established ScotPulse national polling panel to gather independent, non-self-selecting and representative data for the Scottish adult population. The Diffley Partnership applies weighting in their analysis, on age and sex, to make the insights more representative of Scotland’s adult population structure.
The approach being taken by the Authority to establish the public’s views on policing in Scotland contributes to the Authority’s vision of evidence-based policing in the public interest, by providing a large sample which is as representative as possible of the diverse profile of the Scottish population.
This paper summarises:
Public Polling Results from August 2025 – the first sweep of regular quarterly polling work, as per the new contract with the Diffley Partnership.
Related research activity in progress and forthcoming, namely a focus on community cohesion, and a future focus on biometrics and policing.
A more detailed report for the August 2025 polling results has been compiled by the Diffley Partnership and is attached as an Appendix to this paper. Additionally, the Diffley Partnership has prepared a two-page infographic summary of the main findings, which will be published in a forthcoming Insights piece on the Authority’s website.
