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Why did cops’ quango discuss Sheku Bayoh probe in secret?

By Graham Grant Home Affairs Editor

SCOTLAND’S police quango is at the centre of a transparency row after holding a meeting into the death of a man in custody, redundancies and pay behind closed doors.

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) met yesterday to discuss budget cuts of more than £50million next year – as a top force official publicly admitted its funding was not enough for 21st-century policing.

But several other issues were discussed in private – including an update on the public inquiry into Sheku Bayoh, who died in 2015 amid allegations of police brutality, as well as pay and plans for redundancies.

Much of the public meeting looked at the force’s ten years since it launched on April 1, 2013 – when first Chief Constable Sir Stephen House said his vision was for more ‘accessible policing’.

SPA chairman Martyn Evans insisted yesterday the police service ‘invites scrutiny’.

But Scottish Tory community safety spokesman Russell Findlay said: ‘Closing doors to the public risks fuelling concerns about a lack of transparency and accountability.

‘This aversion to transparency sums up secret Scotland under the SNP.’

Subjects discussed in private at the SPA meeting in Edinburgh were a verbal update on the Bayoh inquiry, given by Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor, and plans for voluntary redundancies, early retirements and a report on pay.

Responding to the secrecy allegations, an SPA spokesman said the ‘circumstances in which meetings may be held in private include, for example, matters where information relating to identified or identifiable individuals could be disclosed where there is a risk of a breach of data protection legislation’.

Meetings can also take place in secret when matters to be discussed are the subject of legal proceedings. The spokesman added: ‘Members approved a small number of items being taken in private session for the reasons set out in the agenda and in accordance with the authority’s standing orders.’

Meanwhile, Police Scotland chief financial officer James Gray said capital funding from the Scottish Government is ‘significantly [less] than required to deliver a policing service for the 21st century’. He added: ‘The allocation does not allow us to maintain a workforce at the level of previous years. As a result, hard choices are being taken to refine our service.’

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