Police watchdog board members’ ability in doubt while national force accused of ineptitude

A Holyrood committee has outlined a number of significant outstanding concerns about the performance of some of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board members.

In letters to SPA chair Susan Deacon and SPA board member Nicola Marchant, the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee explains it was underwhelmed by recent evidence from current board members and has further questions on the ‘continual underperformance’ of some members of the board.

Committee convener, Jenny Marra MSP, said: “The Audit Committee still has a number of concerns for the SPA to address on its continual underperformance. It is not in the public interest for the board’s previous unacceptable practices to be quietly forgotten. Poor performance must be addressed. Only then will we begin to have confidence that all SPA board members are carrying out their roles as effectively as they should be.”

The news comes as another committee heard that Police Scotland had “prevented” Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton from carrying out a proper investigation into the national force’s illegal spying.

Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “At committee, Mr Barton did not mince his words. He accused Police Scotland of ineptitude and warned of a culture of secrecy and risk aversion.

“Mr Barton was also highly critical of what he felt was a lack of support for existing and former officers who had been ‘badly wronged’, indicating that he felt this to be symptomatic of deep-rooted issues within Police Scotland that must be urgently addressed.

“Police Scotland have some extremely serious questions to answer when they appear before the committee next month.”