Flat settlement for policing would lead to ‘catastrophic’ job cuts, MSPs warned
The Scottish Government has warned that more than 1,000 jobs would have to be cut in the police force in the next year without an increased budget.
No increase in funding for police will lead to “catastrophic” job cuts, MSPs have heard.
The warning came as Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee heard from witnesses from across the sector as part of its budget scrutiny.
The Scottish Government will unveil its draft budget in December against a strained financial backdrop, including a near £5 billion black hole by the end of the decade.
In a submission to the committee, Police Scotland said it required an increase of £78.8 million to tackle “unavoidable pressures” while a further £31.8 million was needed to “strengthen prevention, protect vulnerable people, respond to emerging threats and unlock further benefits across the justice system”.
In a separate submission, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said a flat cash settlement – no increase from last year’s budget – would see more than 1,000 police officers cut within 12 months, reducing the total headcount to its lowest level since the 2003-04 financial year, along with more than 300 civilian staff.
A further reduction of about 400 officers would have to be made the following year to balance the books, the SPA said.
Appearing before the committee on Wednesday, Craig Naylor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, warned against a failure to increase the policing budget as he pushed for longer term funding plans to be put in place by Government.
“If there is to be a flat cash settlement over the next year, 1,000 people will not be employed at this point next year, which will still not allow them to balance the budget,” he said.
“It’s that sort of catastrophic decision-making that they’re going to have to deal with if that is what the outcome of the Budget is.”
The comments come after David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Authority – which represents rank-and-file officers – said the force has had to all but give up on prevention efforts due to funding issues.
“We don’t invest in crime prevention anymore,” he told the committee in an earlier session on Wednesday.
“We stopped training people in crime prevention, it used to be a four-week course at (police training college) Tulliallan, we stopped doing it.”
He added: “We don’t do any of that as much as we ever did before, and that’s because of the cuts.”
If there is a flat cash settlement, the only thing left to cut in the force is officer numbers, he added.
Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: “That would be devastating for policing in Scotland, putting further pressure on frontline officers and raising serious questions about public safety.
“John Swinney must ensure Police Scotland has the funding it needs to keep communities safe. Scotland cannot afford to leave its police service facing cuts on this scale.”
Scottish Tory justice spokesman said the warning “should concern every single person in Scotland”.
He added: “Scotland’s police and emergency services have been pushed to breaking point, and the consequences for public safety could be catastrophic.
“Cutting more than 1,000 officers would be an absolute disaster, leaving communities exposed and criminals free to exploit the gaps.
“John Swinney cannot claim he wasn’t warned.”
The committee was also warned of the jeopardy facing the entire justice system on Wednesday, with Colin Brown, an executive council member of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), saying the system was “creaking”.
“What’s almost unique, I believe, in the sector is that you’ve got submissions from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish Inspectorate of Fire and Rescue Service and the FBU that are all saying the same thing, every single one of them,” he said.
“The reality is that every single part of the sector is creaking, and without speaking for other members of the committee this morning, I think we are all going say very much the same thing – that the justice sector right now is creaking in every single area.”
Mr Brown also hit out at the long-running issue faced by firefighters who are unable to use showers to decontaminate at their stations before heading home as a result of what he said was an £800 million underinvestment over the past 13 years.
“That’s left fire stations being held up with acrow props,” he said.
“It’s left firefighters unable to decontaminate in their own workplaces.
“It’s left children’s bedrooms contaminated by fire contaminants that could only have come from an incident ground, because firefighters can’t shower in the stations that they work from.
“That should be a mark of shame on this Government.”
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.