6 Human Resources

Strength

1. The strength of the Scottish Police Service at 31 March 1998 is shown in the following table, with comparative figures for previous years.

1998

1997

1996

Police*

Men

12,762

12,752

12,634

Women

2,226

2,036

1,883

Total

14,988

14,788

14,517

Support Staff**
(Clerical and Technical staff and Traffic Wardens but excluding domestic/cleaning posts)

4,670

4,450.5

4,187.5

* Figures include SCRO, Scottish Crime Squad and Scottish Police College.
** Figures include SCRO and Scottish Crime Squad only.
(Support staff working part-time are counted as 0.5).

Human Resources (HR) Strategy

2. During inspections I have been heartened by the commitment of forces to provide an over-arching strategy for HR matters. As in other management areas, some effort is required to develop HR strategies into plans which involve a clear statement of costs, timescales and targets, but there is clear evidence of corporate approaches within forces to all HR issues. Further it is evident that staffing and procedures are slowly being adjusted to create a single approach to recruiting, staff development and training for both police and civilian support staff. Forces are clearly taking on board the recommendations in my thematic report, "All Together Now" (1997), but there remains a cultural barrier which must be completely broken down before the principle contained in the title of my report is finally established. I look forward to the publication of the ACPOS Personnel Strategy for the Scottish Police Service which is expected during 1998/99, which will no doubt provide a useful framework for forces to make further progress in strategic planning in the area of HR.

3. The commitment to attain the standards required to be given the Investors in People (IIP) award is a measure of the serious regard being shown by forces in managing their most important resource - their staff. Currently 3 of the 8 Scottish forces have been awarded IIP and 4 are preparing their applications. This reflects well on the service.

Recruitment

4. Recruitment figures for police officers are detailed at Table 3 which is appended to this report. During 1997/98 the recruitment level at 762 new officers was slightly down on last year's peak of 807. A great deal of credit is due to the tireless efforts of recruitment and training staff throughout the country and to the staff of the Scottish Police College who, over the last 2 years, have pulled out all the stops to cope with a recruitment bulge without loss of quality. The knock-on effect of this level of recruitment is in operational policing where forces are bravely supporting the many needs of probationer constables with the prospect of better levels of policing when these new officers are fully trained. The link between efficient recruiting and appropriate policing levels is clear to all and underlines the importance which must be attached by forces to their recruitment procedures.

5. The quality of recruits continues to be high with a good level of well-qualified, mature entrants. Of the 762 recruits in 1997/98, 168 were graduates and the average age was 26 years. I understand that the quality of recruit depends on a complex set of influences which include police conditions of service and the general employment situation at any given time. However the new recruit in 1998 has much to offer the Scottish Police Service.

Cadets

6. Against this background, it is difficult to understand the continuing commitment to the employment of police cadets. At 31 March 1998 there were 21 cadets employed in Scottish forces, with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary joining Fife Constabulary and Central Scotland Police as the only forces engaging in this practice. There are many examples of excellent police cadets who in turn become excellent police officers. However, while grants are available to support the cost of employment and I understand the laudable interests of chief constables in supporting young people, I cannot find justification for the expenditure made in this area of recruitment, bearing in mind the current high quality of police recruit, alternative avenues of recruitment by way of the special constabulary and the opportunity cost to forces of fewer police officers on the street.

Absence Management

7. Policing is an arduous profession and police officers and support staff work demanding shift patterns to ensure that communities receive 24 hour policing. Operational police officers are also the subject of physical confrontation with violent individuals and many experience incidents which are extremely stressful and traumatic. It is therefore crucial that forces have in place absence management schemes and occupational health and welfare support. During 1997/98 the days lost through sickness and injury were as shown in the following table (previous year in brackets).

Central

D&G

Fife

Grampian

L&B

Northern

Strathclyde

Tayside

All Scottish Forces

Police

9205

3364

6102

8455

31724

6128

83594

9392

157964

(6961)

(1947)

(7075)

(6807)

(24968)

(5941)

(84613)

(10459)

(148771)

Civilian Support Staff

1114

2115

2684.5

3746

20563

2689

27254

5083

65248

(2080)

(1370)

(3058)

(3925)

(16723)

(3155)

(25376)

(4594)

(60281)

8. The figures show an increase in days lost through sickness of just over 6% for police officers and just over 8% for civilian support staff. These figures refer to non-seconded officers and support staff and, using the in-force strength at 31 March this represents 10.7 days lost per officer in 1997/98 compared with 10.2 days in 1996/97, and 13.3 days per member of support staff compared with 12.7 days last year.

9. While these figures disguise varying trends across the 8 forces it is a disappointing increase after recent improvements in sickness rates. Forces who, in the past, have been complacent about sickness rates can no longer afford to be so and close attention must be paid to sound absence management practices. There is no substitute for rigorous management in an area which in 1997/98 was responsible for losing the equivalent of more than 600 police officers from operational duties (not including those extra officers who may be pulled away from operational duties to cover for absent support staff).

10. The level of ill-health retirement in Scottish forces stands at 40.6% of all retirements (down from 46.2% last year). As well as the obvious human cost, this places a huge additional demand on police pensions and is a matter which is currently being addressed in the review of police pensions. It is important that forces apply good practice in all matters of sickness management as outlined in the thematic report, "Lost Time" (HMIC, England and Wales - 1997).

Efficiency Regulations

11. Absence management should be designed to ensure maximum availability of operational officers. The absence of a single officer can be extremely damaging to the effectiveness of police cover. In addition, a small number of recruits, despite tight recruitment and training procedures, emerge as substantive officers even though they are not suited to the career they have chosen or, alternatively, having functioned acceptably, lose the motivation to perform well. It was to combat this that The Police (Efficiency)(Scotland) Regulations 1996 were introduced to address inadequate or unsatisfactory performance. Almost 2 years on, it is clear that these procedures are not being used by forces (during 1997/98 only one officer in Scotland is recorded as having been dealt with, and that at an early stage in the procedure) and it may be appropriate now for the service to check whether the regulations are being used as intended and, if not, why not.

Occupational Health/Welfare

12. Substantial efforts have been made by forces to provide improved occupational health facilities and this is to be greatly welcomed. While small forces will not be able to match the excellent facilities available to Strathclyde Police, the efforts of the smallest force, Dumfries and Galloway, to provide separate occupational health facilities are an example of the genuine commitment to this important area of support throughout the service.

13. Increasingly occupational health and welfare services are becoming alert to the issues of stress-related illness. Stress management is basically an issue for line managers to tackle and it is wholly appropriate that forces are now starting to develop policies to address this matter, giving full regard to the need for critical incident debriefing.

Health and Safety

14. With the implementation of the Police (Health and Safety) Act 1997 in July, health and safety regulations, already applying to civilian support staff, will apply to police officers. While I have been concerned in some forces with the time taken to employ specialist staff to support health and safety, I have seen a great deal of work carried out by all forces in advance of the legislation and it will continue to be an area covered by HMIC inspections in 1998/99.

Staff Development

15. I have been pleased to note the increasing formalisation of staff development schemes for both police and civilian support staff as I inspect forces. This is closely related to the drive for IIP accreditation. Forces are only now starting to grasp the importance of civilian support staff development but I was encouraged by the efforts being made. An impediment in some forces to the development of support staff is the recruitment of retired police officers. While retired police officers should have the same opportunities as any applicant, and some have relevant skills for a few specialist posts, it is important that each force identifies areas of career development for its own support staff and give them confidence in the opportunities available to them, in the same way as police officers, to progress from junior positions to the very top. The time has been reached when civilian support staff should not be seen simply as an adjunct to the service.

16. Again I see increased formalisation of tenure of post policies as I visit forces on inspection. I fully support the principle and encourage forces to continue to give it full attention. Despite the overall trend, I still see instances of officers who have been left too long in specialist posts and of inadequate scope for widening the experience of promising officers and this is harmful to genuine career development.

Accelerated Promotion Scheme

17. In 1997/98 only one person was successful in being accepted for the Accelerated Promotion (AP) Scheme. This is the first time that a serving sergeant has been successful and will act as a spur to others in the future. An element of the Scheme which is open to well-qualified graduates (APSG) has been unsuccessful in attracting an acceptable candidate since 1994/95, and only 7 officers have been successful in being accepted for APSG since its revision in 1992. This state of affairs has caused a revised approach to the Scheme's marketing strategy and the test of its success will be next year's selection process.

18. While I discuss the issue of opportunities for women in the service later in this section, it is disappointing to note that all 12 in-service officers accepted for the AP Scheme since 1992 have been men.

Promotion Examinations

19. The police promotion examination is operated under the auspices of the Scottish Qualifications Agency. The examination comprises three papers in relation the professional subjects of crime, traffic and general police duties. Passes in all papers are required to qualify for promotion to sergeant but they need not be taken in the same year.

1998

1997

1996

Total Enrolments

2,395

2,305

1,960

Candidates sitting all 3 papers

369

357

403

Candidates passing all 3 papers

71 (19.3%)

98 (27.5%)

75 (18.6%)

Candidates passing all papers (including those carrying passes in individual papers from previous years.)

342

372

357

20. The pass rate of candidates sitting individual papers is shown in the following table:-

1998

1997

1996

Crime

35.1%

43.7%

70.4%

Traffic

40.9%

29.6%

25.7%

General Police Duties

21.6%

39.8%

31.2%

Assessment Centres

21. Grampian and Tayside Police both operate assessment centres for the selection of officers to certain ranks. The process is resource intensive and should not be taken on lightly. However both forces must be given credit for the open manner with which they address selection, which is demonstrably fairer than most panel systems. A force with many good officers may regard assessment centres as being unnecessary but it is important to consider the opportunity cost of not selecting the best candidates from the pool of talent that I see in the service. It is important to identify talent and to develop it for the long term benefit of the service.

Appointment of Chief Officers

22. This is a particular concern at senior and chief officer level. Unlike in England and Wales, where selection for and successful attendance at the Strategic Command Course at Bramshill is a precondition for appointment, the Scottish police service demands nothing by way of independent assessment of candidates for chief officer rank and I regard this as a weakness. During the year a Police Advisory Board for Scotland (PABS) working group was set up to consider the Appointment of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is addressing the issue and I trust that it will identify a system which better identifies, develops and more objectively appoints talent in the service to ensure that the best officers can be developed to fill the highest posts in the future.

23. But it must not stop there. Much progress has been made in recent years with talented civilian support staff filling senior posts, traditionally occupied by police officers. With financial delegation to Chief Constables it has never been more important that senior management teams have available to them financial management expertise, not limited to accountancy skills (which are important) but capable of considering the strategic direction of the force and a recognition of value for money in business decisions.

24. Despite this imperative it is disappointing to note that, outwith the new ACPOS Finance Standing Committee, only one example exists of a senior support officer sitting on an ACPOS Standing Committee considering the strategic direction of the service. Forces are still appointing trained policed officers to senior posts with a responsibility for general administration, finance, human resources and information technology. The weakness of such an approach is self-evident and it is to be hoped that the development of senior specialist civilian support staff within the service is soon reflected in greater representation at a national level.

Chief Officers

25. The following chief officer appointments were made in 1997/98:-

Mr David Beattie QPM
Assistant Chief Constable (Designated Deputy)
Grampian Police

Mr Keith Cullen MA
Assistant Chief Constable (Designated Deputy)
Northern Constabulary

Mr Peter Wilson LLB
Assistant Chief Constable
Grampian Police

Mr Martin Papworth MA
Assistant Chief Constable
Strathclyde Police

Mr James Orr BA
Assistant Chief Constable
Strathclyde Police

Mr Andrew Cameron BA
Assistant Chief Constable
Strathclyde Police

26. Towards the end of the year, Mr Crispian Strachan QPM, MA, FIMgt, formerly Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, was appointed Chief Constable of Northumbria Police. His appointment reflects well on his contribution to policing and on the Scottish police service in general. I wish him every success in his new role.

Equal Opportunities

27. Increasingly forces are reviewing equal opportunities policies and training needs in the light of recent experiences. The use of grievance procedures and the recourse to use Industrial Tribunals underline the importance of forces applying the principles contained in their policies. During the last year it was disappointing to note the lack of attention given in some forces to ensuring that staff had confidence in their grievance procedures. The fact that few grievances are recorded (and very few have in fact been recorded in Scotland) is more likely to be a reflection of the inadequacies of the procedure or of its marketing than to be a confirmation that no member of staff has a legitimate grievance. I have already encouraged forces to give this matter more attention.

28. Set against that are a number of examples of good practice in equal opportunities within the service, including the dissemination of anti-harassment literature, the development of trained contact officers and the appointment of staff with specific equal opportunities responsibilities.

29. The number of women officers in post at 31 March 1998 is 2,226 or 14.9% of the total complement. This compares with 13.8% last year and is an encouraging increase. Of this year's recruits, 34.4% were women.

1997/98

1996/97

1995/96

Women

2,226

2,036

1,883

Percentage

14.9

13.8

13.0

30. I commented last year on the level of promotions attained by women officers. Comparing it with last year, the number of women in promoted posts at 31 March 1998 is shown in the following table.

1998

1997

Men

Women

Men

Women

Chief Constable

8

0

8

0

Assistant Chief Constable

20

0

20

0

Superintendent

211

6

207

4

Chief Inspector

210

7

217

9

Inspector

717

21

705

17

Sergeant

1,968

120

1,954

118

Total

3,134

154

3,111

148

31. While more and more women enter the police service it is difficult for the service to defend their poor level of achievement in attaining promoted ranks or prime specialist roles and forces must review the roles performed by women, their staff appraisal and counselling and the procedures for selection for specialist roles and promotion to ensure that everything which can be done is done to address the matter.

32. In the last year the service continued to show a willingness to accept officers on part-time working, a total of 123 at the time of writing the report. Other schemes are aimed at supporting women staff in the workplace, including Grampian Police's Maternity Network and Child Care Directory.

Rural Policing

33. A particularly Scottish policing problem is the policing of remote rural or island communities. Repeatedly in inspections I find local difficulties in finding adequate levels of suitably experienced police officers who wish to work there. The change in regulations in 1994 which prevented the payment of housing allowance to officers recruited after September of that year increased the problem now faced. While much can be done to rationalise the need for rural police offices which are nearer to larger communities there can be little alternative in the long-term to the payment of a monetary incentive to attract the right officer, but as it is a matter which may not be able to be addressed within any one force, it may be suitable for consideration as part of the Government's review of the Scottish policing structure.

Special Constabulary

34. A report on the Special Constabulary, prepared for the ACPOS General Policing Standing Committee has recently been presented to PABS. There is a need for a common set of guidelines to ensure good practice in the management of special constables who continue to provide an invaluable service, particularly in rural areas, and I am relieved that progress is at last being made.

35. The number of special constables fell during the year, as the following table shows:-

Central

D&G

Fife

Grampian

L&B

Northern

Strathclyde

Tayside

All Scottish Forces

1998

72

193

132

138

198

480

319

191

1,723

1997

81

199

132

146

197

511

314

206

1,786

Despite this slight reduction in numbers from the previous year, special constables make a considerable contribution to policing in Scotland. In the absence of national guidelines, some forces have already tightened conditions to include a minimum commitment to duties and exposure to officer safety training and to some extent this is reflected in slightly lower numbers. However this is a sensible approach which, in the long-term, should protect the value of the magnificent support provided by special constables and indeed enhance it.

Staff Associations/Unions

36. As part of each inspection I involve representatives of staff associations and unions in order that I am alert to local concerns. In all forces I have been impressed by the good relationships which exist between force executives and staff representatives. This is the result of good and regular consultation and I commend Chief Constables for the efforts made in ensuring full consultation is carried out.

Support Staff Council

37. The Police Support Staff Council was established in 1996 as a national negotiating body for Scotland at which trades unions, police authorities and chief officers would be represented. Its work to date has concentrated on developing national conditions of service appropriate to the police service as distinct from local government and reconciling support staff pay negotiations to the same yearly cycle as that relating to police pay. The establishment of a national conditions of service package symbolises the shift in direction of support staff to Chief Constables introduced by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994. Once these major issues are concluded the Support Staff Council will be able to address other important matters such as discipline, call-out arrangements and career development which will be instrumental in supporting the further integration of police and support staff as espoused in "All together Now".

Training - Scottish Police College

38. HMIC inspected the Scottish Police College in September 1997. It found the facility to be of the highest standard with staff morale high and the excellent services identified were a direct reflection on the 7 years in command of the Commandant, Hugh Watson OBE QPM, who will retire this year. The service owes a debt to Mr Watson for the highly visible legacy he leaves behind.

39. Unique in the United Kingdom, the College provides all national core training requirements on a single site. The College is to be congratulated for its award of the Charter Mark and IIP.

40. The College has dealt with a high level of police recruits during 1997/98, and support staff now regularly participate in First-Line Managers and Strategic Management Development courses. A series of short courses under the banner of Continuous Professional Development was introduced. This programme, including topics such as Health and Safety and PRINCE 2 Project Management, attracted some 2,500 officers and support staff in 1997/98 to one and 2 day seminars, which were designed to meet the identified development needs of the service. In addition the College now provides the Scottish police service with all of its crime prevention/community involvement training needs. Taken together with training for surveillance, hazardous chemicals, intelligence analysis and many others, considerable financial savings to Scottish forces have been made, compared with other ways of meeting their training needs. The College was awarded the Scottish and National Training Awards for the Superintendents Course.

41. A central resource has been established for the development of distance learning packages on behalf of Scottish forces. As many as 80 packages are now available to forces in booklet or electronic format. The benefits were evident as I inspected forces, who now have access to a wide range of training materials. The initiative is working well and offers excellent potential for future development. In the future these will be linked to the Police Information Network System (PINS) Project. This system will provide nationwide electronic access to the Scottish Criminal Law and Road Traffic Law manuals, which are vital to the training and development of all police officers.

42. The police service derives great benefit from the partnership approach which exists between the College and forces. The successful review of probationer training is a fine example of this joint approach, although there is scope to develop it further by ensuring a proper impact analysis for any proposed new training course, better force selection of officers for courses and better co-ordination of courses provided in-force.

Training - In-force

43. While a significant part of in-force training relates to probationer training a great deal of effort is expended on officer safety, equal opportunities, health and safety, investigative interviews and IT. In addition some forces have developed a short course programme, which allows a more direct association of training with individual needs.

44. It is vital that forces do not duplicate the provision of facilities at the Scottish Police College. It is also important for forces to recognise the true cost of training. Forces are starting to build up information on training abstractions, but I believe it is essential that a clearer picture is made available to ensure that sensible decisions are made on training provision without an unnecessarily detrimental impact on operational resources.