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Consultation
15. With the launch in 2007 of the SPPF, and more recently the introduction of our self-assessment inspection process 12, forces are increasingly being asked to demonstrate their responsiveness to public opinion when prioritising activities and assessing performance. As this report will show, the police service in Scotland continuously strives through consultation to reach the public at a number of levels, using various methods, either individually or in tandem with other organisations.
Consultation strategies
Key finding
Forces were at different stages of formalising their approach to consultation. Most force strategies tended to see consultation as one element in the wider context of engagement and reassurance, though rarely referred specifically to divisions where much of this activity took place. The result was an approach that often failed to provide consistent guidance and support, or to capture and share learning and good practice.
Recommendation 1: That all forces develop a consultation strategy or reconsider their existing one, in light of the findings of this report. In particular, strategies must be clear about the purpose and use of all consultation going on throughout forces and their divisions and, without being overly prescriptive, should identify mechanisms for support, guidance and oversight.
16. Appendix A sets out the range of regular consultation exercises that forces carried out at the time of inspection. It is not exhaustive of all that they did; various individual surveys and evaluations were also conducted, for example in response to specific policing initiatives or to assist in developing policy. Nor did all the exercises necessarily feed into the central strategic planning processes. Nevertheless, in compiling this list a number of points arose.
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