On Wednesday, the Scottish Parliament will vote on proposals that will strengthen public confidence in standards of police conduct. If passed by MSPs, the Scottish Government’s Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill, along with other non-legislative work, will ensure that the handling and investigations of complaints about policing, is fair, transparent, accountable and proportionate.
A crucial element of the Bill relates to the ongoing vetting of police officers and staff. Reliable vetting procedures are vital in ensuring that the right people are recruited in the first place and that they then continue to be the right people to be trusted with the exercise of police power throughout their careers. The public need – they deserve – a vetting system they can have full confidence in. And so do police officers.
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There is already good practice within Police Scotland’s vetting unit and that has been recognised by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS). However, a detailed report on vetting the Inspectorate published in 2023 highlighted gaps in the system and recommended that vetting procedures are placed on a statutory footing, that vetting is maintained throughout a career, and that the Chief Constable is given more powers to remove officers and staff who cannot maintain their vetting clearance.
The Bill will do exactly that. All police officers and staff will have to go through a structured regime of on-going vetting that will continue throughout their professional life. Currently, only officers and staff in specific roles undertake systemic re-vetting. There will also be clear safeguards to ensure the rights of workers, police officers and civilian staff are properly protected in the implementation of these provisions.
Our plans also come against a backdrop of Lady Angiolini’s report into the murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met Police Officer Wayne Couzens, commissioned by the then UK Home Secretary in November 2021 and published in February 2024. In it, she expressed concerns about a lack of periodic re-vetting in England and Wales and although the recommendations are for England and Wales police forces, they are also relevant to Police Scotland and we will provide a consistent approach to vetting across Great Britain.
The Bill also includes a statutory Code of Ethics that sets out the values of Police Scotland and what the public can expect from the police will be introduced, and police officers facing disciplinary proceedings can now be held to account even if they resign or retire. This will ensure justice can be pursued even where an officer is no longer in the force which is not the case now. Officers who are dismissed for gross misconduct will also be prohibited from being re-employed in policing.
The new arrangements will be underpinned by significantly enhancing the role of the independent Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, who scrutinises the police.
The Bill cannot be viewed in isolation, though. It is a further step on the journey of transformative change that has been delivered since Dame Angiolini conducted an Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct in Relation to Policing in Scotland in 2020.
The improvements made since that review have already brought greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to police complaints and police misconduct processes. This next step of legislative change will lead to further improvements by providing a framework for cultural and behavioural changes at all levels of policing.
By doing so, it aims to reassure the public and all those dedicated men and women in the police service, who also want the public to have confidence in them and Scottish policing.