POLICE Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority face an £85 million black hole in their finances by 2018/19.
The prediction came from Scotland’s Auditor General in a damning review of the police watchdog’s accounts.
Both the force and the SPA were criticised for their fiscal planning and told to “collectively provide stronger leadership in strategic and operational financial management”.
There was support for the Auditor General’s position from police inspectorate HMICS Derek Penman, who, in his annual report repeated his criticism of Police Scotland for not having a “fully formed” financial strategy.
Audit Scotland also criticised SPA after their planned analysis of the accounts was delayed because of “incomplete records and poor financial management” where “substantial corrections were needed before completion,” especially over the £500 million fixed assets belonging to Police Scotland and the SPA.
Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Police Scotland is one of our largest and most important public bodies. I first reported on the need for a long-term financial strategy for the service in November 2013. What was once important has now become critical.
“The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland must collectively provide stronger leadership in strategic and operational financial management. This is essential if they are to deliver effective modern policing for the public and ensure their long-term financial sustainability.”
In her report, Gardner says if the auditors assume a one per cent real terms budget increase every year from 2016/17 to 2020/21, then there will be a “cumulative funding gap of £84.6 million by 2018/19.”
Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes said: “We know that police centralisation has not generated the savings that the SNP promised, causing the Scottish Government to announce this week that it plans to spend an additional £55 million tackling the problems they created.
“It is therefore worrying that Audit Scotland have today reported serious problems in financial management at the SPA.”
Green MSP John Finnie said: “This is the second year that Audit Scotland have had to oversee ‘substantial corrections before completion’ and it’s simply not good enough.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The commitments given in this week’s Scottish Government draft budget to increase the police revenue budget in real terms in every year of the next Parliament – amounting to £100 million, plus an additional £55 million for change and transformation work in the next financial year – will put the police budget on a sustainable footing for future years.”
Meanwhile the annual report from HMICS queried the Government’s commitment to maintaining an extra 1,000 police officers. The 2007 SNP manifesto commitment, alongside the lack of long term financial planning has, Penman said, led to a “reduction in skilled police staff, increases in overtime and increased use of police officers in corporate functions and other settings”.
He warns the force that the commitment to keeping the pledge “is not sustainable in the medium to longer term”.
Penman’s report is mostly positive, saying that in his view Police Scotland, “is operationally effective and better placed to deal with both major events and major crime than the legacy police forces it replaced.”
The inspectorate also warns that there will likely be a significant increase in fraud and “cyber-enabled” offences over the next few years as Police Scotland improves its response to these “new and emerging threats.”
SPA chairman Andrew Flanagan said: “We fully acknowledge the recommendations in the audit report that significant improvements are required in financial processes and controls within policing.
“The immediate objectives are to get our financial house in order; to grip cost-saving initiatives and minimise forecast overspend within the current financial year; prepare a policing budget for 2016-17 within the available resources announced this week by the Scottish Government; and prepare a financial strategy that will provide policing with a sound basis on which to evolve a broader policing strategy for Scotland.”
The National view, December 19: Single police force is here to stay but the books need to balance
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