Evaluation of police and fire reform year 4: summary of evidence

Key points

The evidence published in 2018 suggests that both Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) are developing long-term financial planning to progress with transformation in response to continuing budgetary pressures.

Inspectorate reports published in 2018 demonstrate progress is being made towards aim 2 of reform for both Police Scotland and SFRS, and identified areas for ongoing improvement at a local and national level with regards to partnerships and governance arrangements in specialist functions for the police, and location and maintenance of specialist equipment for fire.

The reports published in 2018 suggest that both Police Scotland and SFRS are demonstrating a commitment to partnership working in order to deliver more joined-up services at a time of budgetary pressures.

Looking ahead, the published evidence identifies the continuing need for future learning for Police Scotland around a need to further improve communication with the local community, and for SFRS around more evaluation of the impact of community safety and prevention work.

Other evidence from 2018 has highlighted the continuing work of Police Scotland and SFRS to address issues of vulnerability in the community, improve training, and further improve ICT (Information and Communications Technology) capability.