Police Negotiating Board for Scotland: annual report 2025

Governance

PNBS is sponsored within Safer Communities Directorate of the Scottish Government. The Chair met with the sponsorship team regularly throughout the reporting year, providing an opportunity to share feedback both in terms of performance and on the functions of the PNBS itself.

With the Chair appointed by Scottish Ministers, the Chair also meets with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs on an annual basis, offering another layer of governance and an opportunity to review and improve PNBS effectiveness. This meeting was held in June for 2025.

On the Official Side, Fiona McQueen CBE was appointed Chair of the Scottish Police Authority in March 2025, and Chris Brown was appointed Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Authority in October 2025. The PNBS Chair met with Fiona and Chris (Deputy Chief Executive at the time) in August 2025.

Review of PNBS effectiveness

In March and April 2025, the Chair held individual meetings with representatives of all member organisations to gather and share views on how the PNBS ways of working in relation to pay negotiations could be improved in the future and be more effective for members and stakeholders.

As outlined earlier in this report, this review led to a number of changes welcomed by members which have already had a positive impact on relationships and outcomes, including regular meetings between the Side Secretaries; joint communications in relation to pay; and a reduced negotiating period.

The Chair will continue to review PNBS processes and explore opportunities for improvements with members in 2026.

Operations

The PNBS will continue to reflect and review our operations to fulfil our purpose as a collaborative, effective and efficient public body.

PNBS meetings

Meetings of the PNBS in the reporting period were held on the following dates:

• 02 May 2025 – minute of meeting
• 19 June 2025 – minute of meeting
• 30 September 2025 – minute of meeting

We publish minutes of meetings once they are agreed at the subsequent meeting.

Freedom of information requests

PNBS received four requests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) in the reporting period. All requests were resolved within 20 working days.