Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Act 2025

The Act – Background and Overview

3. The Act implements some of the recommendations contained in the work Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing by Elish Angiolini, published in November 2020 (“the Angiolini Review”)(1), having been jointly commissioned by the Scottish Government and the Lord Advocate. Although the majority of recommendations have been accepted in their entirety, only a limited number, which cannot be taken forward exclusively by the extensive existing powers to make secondary legislation or by non-legislative means and which therefore require primary legislation, are implemented by the Act.

4. The Act makes provision about the ethical standards of the Police Service of Scotland, the vetting of police staff and constables, procedures for dealing with, and the consequences of, certain conduct by constables, and how policing in Scotland is scrutinised. The following expressions are used throughout these Notes:

• The “2006 Act” means the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006;

• The “2012 Act” means the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012;

• The “2013 Conduct Regulations” means the Police Service of Scotland (Senior Officers) (Conduct) Regulations 2013 made under the 2012 Act;

• The “2014 Conduct Regulations” means the Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Regulations 2014 made under the 2012 Act;

• The “Conduct Regulations” means the 2013 Conduct Regulations and the 2014 Conduct Regulations collectively;

• “Police Scotland” means the Police Service of Scotland, established by the 2012 Act, which is the single police constabulary for the whole of Scotland;

• “Constable” means an individual who holds the office of constable and forms part of the Police Service of Scotland;

• The “Chief Constable” means the individual office holder with the responsibility for the policing of Scotland, established by the 2012 Act;

• The “SPA” means the Scottish Police Authority, a body corporate with various functions in relation to the Police Service of Scotland, including maintaining it, established initially by the 2006 Act and, in its current form, by the 2012 Act;

• The “PIRC” means the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, an individual office holder responsible for scrutinising Police Scotland, established by the 2012 Act;

• “HMICS” means His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, an independent scrutiny body, recognised by the 2012 Act, which gave it wide ranging powers to look into the “state, effectiveness and efficiency” of both Police Scotland and SPA. Has a statutory duty to ensure that the Chief Constable and the SPA meet their obligations in terms of best value and continuous improvement;

• “misconduct” is a breach of the standards of professional behaviour;

• “disciplinary proceedings” mean proceedings (including any investigation) in respect of alleged misconduct under regulations made under section 48 of the 2012 Act;

• “senior officer” means a constable who holds the office of chief constable, deputy chief constable or assistant chief constable;

• “vetting” is an assessment as to a person’s suitability, having regard to the person’s character and personal circumstances, to hold a particular office or role or employment. It is defined more particularly with reference to constables and police staff in the provisions of the Act which refer to it, discussed below.

5. The Act is an entirely amending act. It operates on two Acts of the Scottish Parliament: the 2006 Act and the 2012 Act.

6. The 2012 Act reformed the law of policing in Scotland in a pronounced way by establishing a single police force for the entirety of the country, Police Scotland. In chapter 1 of Part 1, it sets up the SPA to maintain etc. the Police Service of Scotland, which is how Police Scotland is referred to in the legislation. Police Scotland is itself established by section 6 of the 2012 Act. It is a single constabulary comprising a chief constable and a number of other senior and non-senior officers. It does not have legal personality. The chief constable’s responsibility for the policing of Scotland is set out in section 17 of the 2012 Act.

7. The 2006 Act set up the scrutiny and oversight of the previous policing arrangements (multiple regional police forces), including an office called the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland. When a single force for the whole of Scotland was set up by the 2012 Act, changes were also required to the scrutiny and oversight arrangements. The 2012 Act amended the 2006 Act. It renamed the existing complaints commissioner to the PIRC, placed a number of requirements on the SPA and the chief constable in terms of dealing with complaints against the police, and set out the general functions of the PIRC, which are to:

• ensure that the SPA and the chief constable have suitable arrangements for the handling of complaints about the police,

• investigate offences by the police and deaths involving police, when directed to do so by the Lord Advocate or a procurator fiscal,

• investigate and report on deaths, serious injuries or firearms incidents involving police,

• investigate other police-related matters in the public interest.

8. The Act amends those two Acts and the Conduct Regulations made under them. The 23 sections of the Act are organised under italic cross-headings:

• The second – Ethics of the police – gives legal recognition to a code of ethics for the police and a duty of candour on individual constables (through amendments to the 2012 Act),

• The third – Police vetting – requires a code of practice for the vetting of police staff and constables and, in respect of constables only, requires regulations to be made which provide for constables to be re-vetted on an ongoing basis and with cause and for dismissal, if unable to maintain vetting.

• The fourth – Police conduct – amends the 2012 Act in respect of liability for unlawful conduct of the chief constable, and enables future changes to be made to the regulatory regime of disciplinary procedures and consequences for misconduct. These changes relate to the role of the PIRC in those procedures, and how those procedures deal with senior officers and former officers,

• The fifth – Functions of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner – makes changes in respect of the functions of the PIRC, adding to them and seeking to clarify certain issues identified in the Angiolini Review (through amendments to the 2006 Act),

• The sixth – Governance of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner – makes provision for an advisory board (through amendments to the 2006 Act).

1

Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing (Angiolini, 2020)