Audit highlights IT problems for Scottish police

Auditor General for Scotland tells police services authority to deliver higher quality services with less money

SPSA accepts it has more work to do in ICT

The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) has been criticised for “not being able to meet its customers’ ICT needs”.

The organisation, which offers support services to forces in Scotland, was established in 2007, but ICT services were not transferred over from individual forces until 2008.

This has meant that it has had less time to make changes, while demand for ICT support from police forces has increased, according to an Audit Scotland report, entitled The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA).

“A number of important ICT projects, both at the national level and for individual forces, need SPSA's input but it has had problems prioritising between these,” said the official auditor in its report.

It urged the SPSA to engage more effectively with customers and provide clear and precise information on the progress, costs and expected timescales for the services being delivered, in particular in relation to ICT services.

The report also recommended that the SPSA speeds up plans to improve its financial management systems, so that staff have accurate cost information to enable them to prioritise service delivery and achieve maximum value for money.

“SPSA had a difficult beginning, and lessons can be learned from this experience when developing shared services in the future,” said Auditor General for Scotland, Robert Black.

“SPSA has made improvements in some areas, but it faces significant challenges if it is to deliver high quality services with less money. It needs to act quickly to address these challenges.”

However, the report added that the SPSA has delivered £5.3m in savings over the past three years, in line with its targets. It has improved the service quality, productivity and efficiency of many of its forensic, criminal justice and training services.

"SPSA has now delivered tangible benefits in terms of savings, and real improvements in quality and productivity for Scottish policing. In some areas like ICT we accept that there is more to do, and we are embarking on a programme to change that for the better,” commented SPSA chief executive Andrea Quinn.

The SPSA provides ICT support for 1,300 applications, 12,000 PCs and laptops and 21,000 handheld radios across 250 sites in Scotland.