HMICS Scrutiny plan 2025-28

I am delighted to present our scrutiny plan for 2025-28, our second such plan, which sets out our inspection priorities for the period April 2025 to March 2028. The plan (as defined in Section 75 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012) has a dual purpose – to contribute to improving policing in Scotland and to fulfil our statutory obligation to inquire into the state, efficiency and effectiveness of both the Police Service of Scotland (Police Scotland) and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

The benefits of a longer-term scrutiny plan have been apparent over the past few years, providing Police Scotland, the SPA and other key stakeholders with early indication of the priority areas for scrutiny. It also allows for effective and efficient co-ordination – both with other scrutiny activity on policing and with other public sector scrutiny bodies (with whom we have been seeking more collaborative inspection opportunities, as evidenced in recent publications).

By regularly reviewing the plan and taking a flexible approach, we are able to identify additional areas that may not have been apparent at the outset of the planning period. It is critical that we retain this agility to ensure that we focus on achieving improvement in policing where it matters most.

This scrutiny plan has been the subject of extensive consultation, with input sought from a significant number of diverse groups, organisations and partners across the country. We also liaised with communities across Scotland (via a questionnaire) to contribute to the identification of priority policing areas for scrutiny in the years ahead.

We engaged directly with the people and organisations responsible for delivery of public services in Scotland to inform this plan, using methods including:

• interviews with 47 key members of staff in Police Scotland and the SPA and other pertinent stakeholders;

• facilitation of focus groups consisting of operational officers, capturing a wide range of views from across the country; and

• direct contact with key bodies and partner agencies, to encourage participation in our consultation process.

We also took into consideration the Strategic Police Plan (jointly agreed with the SPA in 2023), the recent 2030 Vision, and the first of two three-year business plans published by the Chief Constable. Our scrutiny plan seeks to align our inspection and assurance work with such plans to ensure our work remains focused on securing improvement across key areas of policing.

Scrutiny activity for this three-year period will comprise different types of inspection, including audit and assurance, thematic inspections and collaborative reviews.

I am extremely grateful to everyone who took the time and effort to share their views with us during our consultation period for this plan. It has allowed us to develop a strong, evidence-based approach to the priority areas for scrutiny. We have had to decide which particular areas of policing should be the focus of inspection (reconciling the breadth of suggested topics with the capacity of the HMICS team) and have regularly engaged with the Police Scotland internal audit team to effectively co-ordinate this work. This should ensure scrutiny and assurance work achieves maximum coverage with minimum duplication.

This fulfils our requirement to lay reports before the Scottish Parliament, but is also an important part of our ongoing commitment to a transparent approach to scrutiny. We will also ensure that the website reflects the current status of all HMICS recommendations, so that it is clear what progress has been made on inspection reports.

I am committed to ensuring that the highest standards of scrutiny and assurance work of policing in Scotland continues and will keep this scrutiny plan under regular review, publishing any revisions as appropriate.

The pace of change within policing in Scotland remains significant, and it is critical that HMICS, through scrutiny and assurance work, drives improvement over the next three‑year period and beyond. This scrutiny plan will provide the basis on which we continue to improve policing across Scotland.

Craig Naylor
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary
March 2025