Quality Assurance
Under s42 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006, the Commissioner has general functions: to secure the maintenance of suitable arrangements for the handling of relevant complaints by each of the relevant authorities; to keep them under review; and ensure that the arrangements are efficient and effective, have an appropriate degree of independence, and are adhered to.
To make sure this occurs, the Commissioner and his team work with all stakeholders to achieve effective and customer focussed, police complaints handling arrangements. Reviews are also conducted in line with the PCCS audit policy, to ensure that the arrangements are maintained.
Within this page you will find information and regular updates on the Quality Assurance work being carried out by the Commissioner and his team, as outlined in the PCCS Business Plan 2010 - 2011.
Current on-going projects include:
- a PCCS audit of Police Boards and Authorities (more information below)
- the annual statistical return in relation to complaints, from all of the relevant authorities
- the completion of the memorandum of understanding with H M Revenue and Customs
- working with the complaints review team on the lessons learned bulletin
- working with the Police Advisory Board technical working group - conduct working party, on the re-drafting of the Police (Conduct) (Scotland) Regulations
Work beginning soon includes:
- follow up on the audit of Northern Constabulary
- follow up on the user focused assessment of the accessibility of police complaints handling
PCCS audit: Police Boards and Authorities Capability (in relation to their oversight of complaint handling)
Without strong governance there is little chance of securing public confidence in complaints handling
Police Boards and Authorities in Scotland are one leg of the tripartite system of police governance (the other two being the Chief Constable and the Scottish Government). The Boards and Authorities have a duty to keep themselves informed of how the police deal with complaints from the public and to consider complaints about senior officers and about the board themselves.
The Commissioner therefore plans to carry out an audit to ensure that the Police Boards and Authorities are fulfilling their functions in this regard effectively and efficiently.
The Commissioner issued in June a questionnaire to all of the Boards and Authorities regarding their current procedures and processes. When the responses are received, based on the information gathered, the Quality Assurance team will then carry out audit visits to a selection of Boards and Authorities.