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Scottish Criminal Record Office Primary Inspection 2004

1. Leadership

1.1 Corporate governance arrangements for SCRO are provided by a CPS Programme Board. It was established in 2004 to provide high level strategic oversight of common services and, in respect of SCRO, took over the responsibilities previously discharged by the SCRO Executive Committee. Specifically, the following functions are within its remit:

• provision of strategic oversight
• approval and oversight of programmes of work
• accountability for operational policy of SCRO
• definition of service standards
• setting of priorities
• monitoring spend, allocation of budgets and approval of major spending decisions
• obtaining resources from individual forces where necessary
• adoption and presentation of Annual and Corporate plans for existing common services
• ensuring that structures are in place to take account of user needs
• ensuring that appropriate arrangements are made for the recruitment and training of staff.

1.2 The Board's role is an interim one, as it has also been tasked with identifying the best long-term solution for the structure, oversight, funding and management of common police services. In this regard it is to make recommendations to Ministers on how to move forward.

1.3 There are nine members of the Board with representation equally shared among the Scottish Executive, chief constables and police authorities to reflect the tripartite accountability arrangements which exist in Scotland. The chief constables' representatives are the office holders of President, Vice-President and Honorary Secretary of ACPOS. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Mr Andrew Brown CBE QPM, also attends Board meetings in the capacity of professional advisor.

1.4 At a tactical management level, a Senior Users' Group has been established to:

• ensure engagement with customers and stakeholders
• monitor efficiency, effectiveness and consistency of organisational performance
• recognise individual force interests and objectives
• embrace the strategic aims of the Scottish police service.

1.5 This forum, which replaced the previous SCRO Management Committee, is chaired by a member of the Scottish Executive Justice Department and comprises the Director and Deputy Director, a delegate from each police force normally of superintendent rank, a senior representative of the Scottish Executive Police Division and the chief constable who chairs the ACPOS Crime Business Area. Its meetings are scheduled to precede the ACPOS Council forum, to which the Chair of ACPOS Crime reports, and HMIC welcomes the coordination of activity which is possible as a result.

1.6 The governance and management structure of SCRO is shown in Figure 1.

1.7 The Director, Mr Harry Bell QPM, previously held the post, on secondment, as a serving police officer of chief superintendent rank with Strathclyde Police. Following his retiral from the police service, he was retained on a contractual basis when the post was civilianised in 2003 but is scheduled to vacate the position in April 2005. A competitive selection process was underway during the inspection to identify a successor but the status of the post has been retained at the grading applicable to the post when it was exclusively undertaken by a serving police officer. Comparison with other common police services, i.e. the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency (SDEA), the Scottish Police College (SPC) and SPIS reveals some disparity in terms of remuneration and managerial support as outlined in Table A.

Table A: Common Police Services Leadership and Management

N.B. Posts are listed in descending order of salary. Where a post is held by a police officer, a corresponding guide to the equivalent civilian salary is shown in brackets and vice versa. To allow comparison between different grading systems, civilian posts in SPC and SPIS have been approximated using the Strathclyde Police principal officer scale applicable to SCRO and SDEA, i.e. from PO1 (£26,163) to PO36 (£61,095).

1.8 Staffing numbers within SCRO are broadly similar with SDEA and SPC but far greater than within SPIS. In terms of budget, SCRO accounts for around half of that applicable to both SDEA and SPC but over three times the SPIS allocation. HMIC does not assert that the grading and support levels for the Director of SCRO, or indeed those for the other agencies, are incorrect but merely highlights the apparent inconsistency. The Common Police Service Programme Board now has the opportunity to look across all common police service bodies and may wish to consider the foregoing in determining future leadership and support arrangements for each.

1.9 Although working with operational autonomy, the Director has access to support and guidance through important links with the Scottish Executive Justice Department and ACPOS. The chair of ACPOS Crime Business Area provides advice on behalf of the Scottish police service where this may be necessary. This is a legacy from the time that the Chair of ACPOS Crime was also Chair of the SCRO Executive Committee and HMIC welcomes the level of support from ACPOS that the continuation of this arrangement provides for the Director.

1.10 The Deputy Director is a seconded police superintendent from Lothian and Borders Police. Although he is scheduled to return to his force in 2005, there will be an opportunity for a handover period with the new Director. This will be of considerable benefit in a climate of significant transformation in a number of areas of SCRO activity.

1.11 The Director and Deputy Director are supported by a number of police and non-police managers. Within Executive Support, a chief inspector has been seconded to SCRO on a temporary basis to undertake the post of Strategic Development Officer and a seconded inspector performs the role of Liaison Officer. A new civilian post of Alliance Manager has been created to focus on partnerships and communications. A Business Support Bureau is led by a civilian Business Support Manager who is responsible for the provision of a range of services including personnel, finance, office services, facilities, health and safety and records management.

1.12 SCRO has five distinct business areas as illustrated in Figure 1. The Criminal Justice Information Bureau (CJIB) and the Intelligence Support Bureau (ISB) are each led by a seconded police officer of inspector rank with a seconded chief inspector in a coordination role. The IT Bureau, Disclosure Scotland and the SFS are each managed by a civilian member of staff.

1.13 HMIC wishes to acknowledge the strong leadership demonstrated within SCRO in dealing with a number of issues where positive progress is evident. In terms of the personnel function, the organisation is for the first time in its 44-year history developing independent expertise in human resource management. Although not required under race relations legislation, SCRO has acted constructively in deciding to produce its own Race Equality Scheme on a voluntary basis. Procedures within fingerprint bureaux, with the evolution of the SFS, have been significantly developed, resulting in more robust internal procedures and the external accreditation of fingerprint experts and bureaux. When backlogs within Disclosure Scotland grew dramatically during 2003, SCRO's Deputy Director personally intervened in order to drive procedural improvements and improve performance.

1.14 The disclosure of criminal information by the police received unprecedented attention in the wake of the Soham murders. Ian Huntley was convicted at the Old Bailey on 17 December 2003 of the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The following day, the Home Secretary announced the launch of an independent inquiry into the manner in which the police had handled intelligence and this was subsequently conducted by Sir Michael Bichard. The Director of SCRO and the head of Disclosure Scotland worked actively and constructively in support of members of ACPOS in coordinating management issues for the Scottish police service associated with the sharing of intelligence and information. In particular, the commitment of the Director has been outstanding in this regard.

1.15 These achievements, together with developments in CJIB, ISB, Crimestoppers and the management of national IT systems, have significantly raised the status of SCRO within Scottish policing.

1.16 Notwithstanding the overall progress made, the inspection of SCRO has highlighted a number of issues which represent a substantial challenge for the incoming Director. Most importantly, these include the development of external consultation and partnership arrangements between SCRO and stakeholders outwith the police arena. Of particular note are those customers of Disclosure Scotland who have yet to be fully engaged in the development of disclosure arrangements and whose valid concerns have yet to be addressed. Of equal importance is the need to implement an enhanced replacement CHS, capable of supporting the development of the criminal justice system in Scotland, and further modernisation of fingerprint identification within a SFS which plays its full part in the provision of national forensic science services. The foregoing, coupled with the need to manage the consequential changes arising from the recommendations of the Bichard Inquiry, means that the incoming Director will require to take active control over a range of developing issues of substantial importance to the Scottish police service and other key stakeholders.

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