Seòmar agus comataidhean

Okay, well, we have that on the record. Thank you very much.

I invite Joe FitzPatrick to put some questions to you.

We have been up against the clock. I place on record my thanks to committee members for their discipline and co-operation. I understand that Dr Pathirana and his team have given evidence to the Finance and Public Administration Committee as well as the Public Audit Committee this morning. I admire their marathon skills in coping with the questions that have been thrown at them. I thank Dr Pathirana, Frances Graham and Chris Nairns for appearing before us, as well as Lesley Fraser, who is the Scottish Government’s director general corporate.

This is the committee’s last meeting in public in this parliamentary session, and it is my last committee meeting as convener. It has been a great privilege. In my view, committees of the Parliament can lead parliamentary as well as public debate. Above all else, that is what the committee has done this session: we have held public bodies to account and have been the guardians of the public interest, and we have done that as a committee united, for which I am truly grateful.

Needless to say, we could not have done that without the support of the clerks. I place on record the committee’s thanks to the ever-present Alison Wilson and Keith Currie, who have done a fantastic job over the past five years in supporting us, but also to Lynn Russell, Katrina Venters, and Claire Menzies, who have been our committee clerks. We are very grateful to you. I also place on record our thanks to the parliamentary communications team whom we have worked with, two of whom coincidently share surnames with two former leaders of the Labour Party. One I prefer much more than the other—the Labour leader, not the media officer, you understand. We say thanks to Linda Peters, especially, and to the Scottish Parliament information centre for the support that it has provided, and to security for keeping us safe so far—there are still a few minutes to go. On behalf of the committee, I also thank the broadcasting team, who make sure that we are transparent and accountable. For the same reason, I also record our thanks to the official report team, who work tirelessly behind the scenes. In particular, on this occasion, I want to thank our long-standing sub-editor Fiona Shaw, who, after working in this Parliament since 1999, is taking well-earned retirement next week. We wish her well.

Finally, I again thank the Auditor General for Scotland, Stephen Boyle, and his team for the outstanding work that they do, for the outstanding reports that they produce and for the outstanding leadership that Stephen Boyle shows.

Graham Simpson wishes to come in.

Thank you very much. Before I bring in Graham Simpson, I note that you mentioned capital constraints. At, I think, paragraph 24, the report points out that the move from local authority-controlled policing to a single Scotland-wide force—that was a policy decision; it was not a decision taken by any of our witnesses this morning—has left you in a situation where you have no reserves and no borrowing powers in the way that a local authority has. I think that that colours the fiscal climate that you are working in.

I bring in Graham Simpson to put some questions to you.

Absolutely—they are contained centrally in the report that is before us. They have been identified by HM inspectorate and the Auditor General.

Colin Beattie has some questions.

That might be a question that, I presume, the Scottish Police Authority would also have some thoughts on.

We have come to the end of our time. I thank you for the evidence that you have given us this morning. This is the second-last meeting in public of this parliamentary session. I will say to Mr Speirs that our final meeting next week is with the accountable officer from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency. I know, Mr Hay, the firefighters, of whom you were once part, along with police officers, the NHS and teachers, are all caught up in the delays in the SPPA system. If you have any questions that you would like to put to the SPPA, Mr Speirs, drop us a note and we will do our best to raise them.

Okay. Mr Brown or Mr Hay—do you want to comment on where we are with the IT investments?

Understood. Thank you very much for your time this morning, Alasdair Hay, Chris Brown, Don McGillivray, and director general Neil Rennick. I particularly thank you, chief constable, and deputy chief constable, for the time and the undertakings that you have given us this morning. It has been very helpful. We very much appreciate your willingness to answer some of the questions that were not strictly related to the report that you were asked to come here to talk about. We really do appreciate it.

With that, as the committee agreed earlier, the meeting will now move into private session.

11:39

Meeting continued in private until 12:00.

The substantive agenda item this morning is further consideration of the report “Best Value in policing: Joint Best Value audit of policing in Scotland”, which we took evidence on from the Auditor General and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland on 11 February.

We are joined by representatives from the Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland and the Scottish Government. I welcome first of all from the Scottish Government Neil Rennick, director general of education and justice; alongside him is Don McGillivray, director of safer communities. We are joined from the Scottish Police Authority by Chris Brown, the chief executive, and Alasdair Hay, the vice-chair. Finally, we are joined by Chief Constable Jo Farrell, and alongside her is Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs, who has responsibility for professionalism and enabling services at Police Scotland. Good morning.

We have questions to put to you on the report. Before we get to those questions, I would like to invite representatives from each of the organisations around the table to make a short opening statement. Beginning with the Scottish Government, I invite Neil Rennick to address us.

Okay. Thank you. Would the chief constable or deputy chief constable like to comment on that?