Report highlights benefits of police reform

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson

An independent report published today has highlighted benefits of police reform.

The report looks at how Police Scotland, as well as the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), have worked with partner bodies such as the NHS, Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), community groups and each other since reform began in 2013.

It found that partnership working focused on prevention was firmly embedded across both bodies and considered to be ‘business as usual’. It also highlighted a number of strong local examples of co-operation.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “This report clearly demonstrates some of the benefits of police and fire reform and the excellent partnership working in the community and health service in local areas to improve the safety of a number of vulnerable groups.

“The 2018-19 budget provides additional spending power of £15.5 million to allow SFRS to invest in service transformation, on top of the £21.7 million increase in the operational budget for service this year.

“We are also committed to protecting the police resource budget in every year of this Parliament – a boost of £100 million by 2021 and have continued police reform funding for a further year, with an investment of £31 million planned to support the implementation of the Policing 2026 strategy.

“As reform moves forward we will continue to learn lessons from the evaluation process to ensure both staff and the wider public feel the benefit of single police and fire services.”

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