Thematic Inspection of Organisational Culture in Police Scotland | HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland

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7th December 2023

Our inspection took evidence from staff and officers at all ranks and grades to gain an understanding of: how culture is set; if there is a conscious effort to define and influence culture; and how people feel within the organisation. We also sought views and ‘stories’ from staff and officers across the organisation, receiving over 260 responses, with a number followed up in direct interviews. The detail of these is included in the report, but those who spoke up mostly raised concerns at the way Police Scotland applies its processes when dealing with the human side of policing (e.g. annual leave, grievance, time off, promotion and complaint/conduct investigation). The overwhelming feeling was that the size and scale of the organisation inhibits its ability to treat officers and staff as individuals and that there is a rush to apply processes, often incorrectly and with initial stages that are not defined in policy.

Number	Recommendation
1	Police Scotland should improve leadership behaviours across the organisation to ensure that officers and staff work in a culture that is supportive, collaborative and welcomes challenge.
2	Police Scotland should develop and deliver a set of actions to address the fundamental inequalities between officers and police staff, and frontline policing and other national/specialist functions.
3	Police Scotland should develop and deliver a set of actions to address the fundamental inequalities between officers and police staff, and frontline policing and other national/specialist functions.
4	Police Scotland should prioritise the completion of an organisational maturity assessment of continuous improvement, organisational learning and best value involving all improvement-related functions within the organisation and use this to inform a unified approach.
5	Police Scotland should review its Corporate Governance Framework and Scheme of Delegation to ensure that delegated decision-making and approval processes are streamlined.
6	Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority should reinforce the human rights and ethics-based approach for all policing activity.
7	Police Scotland should rename and refocus its grievance process to resolution/mediation, providing mandatory initial steps (in line with contractual and regulatory entitlement) and clear training on the management of the process.
8	Police Scotland should develop and implement a cohesive engagement and feedback framework (which should include a regular whole-service people survey).
9	Police Scotland should invest in organisational development and design in order to develop a clear model of adopting cultural change, with supporting implementation steps towards a clearly defined aspirational culture.
10	Police Scotland should develop its performance framework to encompass the impact of organisational culture, while regularly reporting to the Scottish Police Authority.
11	The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland should put in place measures to monitor progress against the areas for development outlined in this thematic inspection, ensuring regular public reporting to allow assessment of progress.