Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill - Call for views

Overview

The Scottish Government is proposing a new law which would require the police to have a statutory code of ethics, make changes relating to the handling of police conduct, increase the functions of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (the PIRC) and introduce an advisory board for the Commissioner.

The Scottish Government states that the Bill is an amending bill and amends the two main pieces of legislation in the area of Scottish policing law (the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 (the “2006 Act”) and the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012) (the “2012 Act”), and conduct regulations made under the 2012 Act.

The Bill was developed in response to recommendations made by an independent review of complaints handling, investigations and misconduct in relation to policing, led by Lady Elish Angiolini. The review’s purpose was to make recommendations that would ensure the complaints handling systems and investigations into misconduct are fair, transparent, accountable and proportionate. Its overarching aim was to strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

Why your views matter

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee are looking at the proposals in the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill.

They want to know what people think about them.

Please complete the Call for Views below. 

Please note that you do not need to answer every question. 

Each of the questions is preceded by a short summary of the relevant provisions in the Bill. However, you are invited to refer to the documentation published by the Scottish Government for the full details of the proposals in the Bill and the Scottish Government’s explanation of why they have been included.

Here is a link to the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill.

The Scottish Government has published a Policy Memorandum which explains the reasons for the proposals in the Bill.

The Scottish Government has also published Explanatory Notes which explain in more detail what the Bill does.

The Scottish Government has also published a Financial Memorandum, which sets out the costs associated with the measures introduced by the Bill.

We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language. 

The call for views closes at 5.00pm on Friday, 8 December 2023.

We recognise that your views may have been informed by your own personal experience of engaging with the police or the police complaints system as well as the criminal justice system more widely. For example as a victim of crime, a complainer or witness in a trial.

However, you should note that to comply with data protection requirements we may have to redact information if it can identify another living person and it would be unfair to that individual to publish the information that identifies them on our website. The threshold for assessing whether publishing of information is fair to the individual is higher where the information is sensitive personal data which includes information about criminal offences or health, for example. 

If you are able to draft your submission in a way that does not include identifying information (such as the individual’s name or where they live or work), it will assist us in publishing your submission in full. We will consider each submission on a case-by-case basis and contact you if we are unable to publish your submission in the form you have provided. 

Furthermore, we ask that you do not provide any details of live court cases. 

Please note that it is not the role of the Criminal Justice Committee to investigate individual complaints.