Post-legislative scrutiny of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012

The Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee undertook post-legislative scrutiny of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. The 2012 Act created a single police service and a single fire and rescue service, replacing the eight police forces and the eight fire brigades that had existed previously.

The Committee examined whether:

• the policy intentions of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 have been realised and are being delivered in relation to the police service and the fire and rescue service; and whether
• any further policy or legislative changes are required to improve the effectiveness of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012.

Evidence

The Committee issued a call for written evidence on 1 April 2018. The deadline for sending written submissions was 5.00pm on Thursday 21 June 2018.

• Read the call for evidence
• Read the written submissions
• Read the meeting papers and official reports

Following the Committee’s post-legislative scrutiny of the 2012 Act, Dame Elish Angiolini published an interim report on her independent review into police complaints handling, investigations and misconduct issues: 

Correspondence

• Letter from the Chair, Scottish Police Authority to the Convener (26 November 2019) (218KB pdf)
• Letter from the Convener to the Scottish Police Authority (11 December 2019) (96KB pdf)
• Letter from the Convener to COSLA (11 December 2019) (92KB pdf)
• Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Justice to the Convener (24 January 2020) (163KB pdf)
• Letter from FBU Scotland to Convener (2 March 2020) (180KB pdf)
• Letter from COSLA to Convener (3 March 2020) (103KB pdf)
• Letter from the Convener to the Minister for Community Safety (4 March 2020) (1.83MB pdf)
• Minister for Community Safety to the Convener (17 March 2020) (1.4MB pdf)

Report

The Committee published its report to the Parliament on 25 March 2019.

• Justice Committee Report on the Police Service of Scotland
• Justice Committee Report on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• News Release
• HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland's response to the Committee's report (10 May 2019) (150KB pdf)
• Scottish Government response to the Committee's report 20190521 (650KB pdf)
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service response to the Committee's report 20190605 (482KB pdf) 
• Police Scotland's response to the Committee's report 20190614 (1.01MB pdf)
• Scottish Police Authority response to Committee's report and views expressed by HMICS 20200110 (169KB pdf)