Our business

• Minutes and action log from previous meeting
• Commissioner’s update report
• Corporate communications update
• Policy documents
• Training
• Finance
• Any other business

Attendees

Ilya Zharov Head of Reviews and Policy (IZ) 
Janice Carter Information Officer (JC) (agenda item 9 only) 
Jennifer Fisher Secretariat (JLF) 
Laura Duguid Finance Manager (LD) 
Laura Paton Commissioner (LP) 
Lynsay Cooper Communications Officer (LC) 
Phil Chapman Director of Operations (PC) (Chair) 
Raymond Brown Head of Investigations (RB) 
Ruth McCallum HR Officer (RMcC) 
Sharon Clelland Head of Legal Services (SC)

Welcome and Apologies

PC opened the meeting and welcomed all Senior Leadership Team (SLT) members. 
 

Apologies 
Apologies were noted from Irina Wilkie, Head of Communications and Sharon Smit, Head of Corporate Services/Accountable Officer. 

Matters proposed to be considered in private. 
SLT agreed to consider agenda items 9 - 18 in private, for the reasons set out on the agenda.

Minutes and Action Log from previous meeting

Draft Minutes 
SLT approved the minutes of the June 2025 meeting.

Action Log 
No outstanding actions to review.

Commissioner’s Update Report

Update Report 
Further to the report circulated in advance, LP provided the following updates: 

Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill 
This Bill has reached stage 3 - final stage - in the legislative process. The potential implications for PIRC will be considered and progressed through the Strategic Review. 

Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviours Reviews (Scotland) Bills 
This Bill has reached stage 3 - final stage - in the legislative process. The Commissioner and Head of Legal Services are due to meet with members of Scottish Government’s Bill team on 29 July to discuss PIRC’s involvement. A further update will be shared in due course. 

Criminal Justice Committee – Pre-budget scrutiny 2026/2027 
The committee has launched its pre-budget scrutiny for the 2026/27 financial year. Views are being sought from individuals and organisations across the justice sector, with particular focus on:

• Key financial pressures facing criminal justice bodies
• Spending priorities for 2026/2027
• Capital investment requirements
• Opportunities for efficiency savings and “Spend to Save” initiatives.

Submissions remain open until 9 September 2025. 

Members noted the update provided.

Corporate Communications Update

Update Report 
Further to the report circulated in advance, LC provided the following updates: 

PIRC Business Plan 
Work is progressing well. A reformatted draft is expected to be available for SLT review in late July/early August 2025 and will be shared with the SG Sponsor team ahead of publication. 

Advocacy Support 
Development is underway to include signposts to Advocacy Support agencies within the ‘Help’ section of the PIRC website. 

Social Pledge 
A range of nominations have been received for this year’s Social Pledge initiative. 

Media Enquiry Process Update 
PC advised that the current Media Enquiry process is under review with updates anticipated to improve operational efficiency. 

Under the proposed amendments, responsibility for preparing draft responses to media enquiries – particularly in relation to Category C investigations – will be placed on Investigators. 

This change is intended to reduce the workload on the communications team while ensuring that responses remain accurate, timely and appropriately informed by case specific knowledge. 

The amended process will be circulated to SLT members for comment when available. 

25/26 - 6: Circulate amended Media Enquiry Process to SLT members for review. 

Members noted the updates provided.

Policy Documents

PIRC Evacuation Testing Proposal 
RMcC provided an overview of the PIRC Evacuation Testing proposal (circulated in advance). 

It was agreed that a staff communication will be issued to advise that an Emergency Evacuation Test is scheduled to take place within a month. The communication will encourage staff to re-familiarise themselves with evacuation procedures ahead of the test. 

With the above consideration noted, members approved the proposal. 

PIRC Business Continuity Plan 
RMcC provided an overview of the updates/amendments made to the PIRC Business Continuity Plan (circulated in advance). 

LP requested that amendments were made to the HMICS, Comms Team contact details and that her personal mobile telephone number was added to the Crisis Management Team contacts list. 

PC requested that, as the document contains personal data, a GSC classification of “Official Sensitive” was applied, prior to wider circulation. 

With the above amendments, members approved the amended Business Continuity Plan. 

PIRC Records Management Policy 
RMcC provided an overview of the updates/amendments made to the PIRC Records Management Policy (circulated in advance). 

IZ requested additional time to further consider retention periods for information held on the PIRC website and to agree a process for undertaking an internal audit of this content. 
PC agreed to extend the review period for 1 week to allow for further consideration. 

25/26 - 7: IZ to review and return any further amendments to RMcC by 23 July 2025. 

Members did not approve the Records Management Policy, at this time. 

PIRC Health and Safety Policy 
RMcC provided an overview of the updates/amendments made to the PIRC Health and Safety Policy (circulated in advance). 

SC highlighted that a comment on page 3 of the policy remains unresolved and that the legislation referenced in Section 9 is incorrect (correct legislation is the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005). 

Further discussion was held regarding smoking in privately owned vehicles used for business purposes. SC noted that under current legislation, private vehicles - defined as “any car which is not a public transportation vehicle...and any other vehicle used primarily for private purposes,” are exempt from current legislation. SC recommended that the policy was amended to take the above into consideration. 

SC additionally advised that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently progressing through the House of Lords having completed its stages in the House of Commons earlier in 2025. If passed, devolved powers will allow the Scottish Government to consult and implement specific measures tailored to Scotland’s public health priorities. SC recommended that PIRC adopt a proactive approach by incorporating relevant provisions of the Bill into the Health and Safety policy, ahead of any legislative change. 

In addition, SC proposed that the policy be amended to restrict staff from smoking or using vapes/e-cigarettes when working from home and attending MS Teams business meetings. 

LP recommended that the above revision be referred to the Staff Representative Group (SRG) for further consideration. 

PC noted that Section 14 of the policy – Violence at Work, requires further revision. 
PC advised that SI Houliston is currently drafting a process to ensure that staff complete a Risk Assessment prior to undertaking any enquiry/meeting with a complainer, victim, witness or member of the public where there may be an increased risk of exposure to violence. 

RMcC agreed to return the policy to the author for amendments to be made. 

Members did not approve the amended Health and Safety Policy, at this time. 

PIRC Whistleblowing Policy 
RMcC provided a brief overview of the PIRC Whistleblowing Policy (circulated in advance). 

Members held detailed discussion regarding the appointment of an Independent Whistleblowing Officer (IWO) and deputy IWO, who will act as first point of contact for staff wishing to raise concerns about a perceived wrongdoing or make a protected disclosure. 

It was noted that within other NDPBs, Senior Management staff are commonly assigned this role, however, concerns were raised regarding the suitability of such an arrangement within PIRC, particularly where a whistleblowing complaint/disclosure is likely to involve a member of the Senior Leadership Team. 

Additional discussions are to be held to confirm the appointment of a suitable IWO and deputy and to identify suitable training. 

SC highlighted that Section 5 of the policy states: “The identity of the whistleblower will be protected and kept confidential”, but Section 6 includes provisions for “obtaining consent to disclose identity”. SC and IZ requested that both sections be reviewed to provide clarity and consistency. 

SC noted that Section 6 refers to the Government Security Classification system – this should be corrected to Government Security Classification Scheme. 

In addition, SC noted that Appendix 3 contains text directly extracted from the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014, including the explanatory note. SC requested that the entirety of the text is replaced with a hyperlink to the official schedule to ensure that the most up-to-date information is available (Whistleblowing: list of prescribed people and bodies - GOV.UK) 

Members agreed to delay further review of the policy. The policy will be updated to reflect the amendments above, prior to resubmission for approval. 

Members did not approve the PIRC Whistleblowing Policy, at this time.

PIRC Pay Policy 
RMcC provided an overview of the PIRC Pay Policy (circulated in advance), noting that the sole amendment was the removal of the existing review date, with the policy now stating: “Reviewed annually at the conclusion of pay negotiations.” 

As the current pay negotiations have not yet concluded, members agreed to defer further review of the policy until conclusion. 

With the above consideration noted, members did not approve the Pay Policy, at this time. 

Policy documents – Application of Corporate and Accessibility Standards 
LC requested that all policies undergoing amendment be reformatted to ensure that corporate and accessibility standards are consistently applied:

• Font Arial size 12
• Text left-aligned
• minimum 1.5 line spacing

RMcC agreed to pass this request to the internal PIRC Policy Group for actioning.

Training

Training Report 
RB requested clarification on whether training provided by Police Scotland was delivered at no cost or was subject to invoicing. 

LP further requested clarification of the savings achieved, year to date, if training was indeed provided at no cost. 

25/26-8: RMcC to confirm cost / savings of training delivered by Police Scotland. 

Members noted the Training Report as circulated.

Finance

Management Accounts to end June 2025 
LD provided an overview of the Management Accounts to the end of June 2025 (circulated in advance), highlighting the following:

• Grant in Aid (GIA) cash drawn down related to spend was £78k below original budget for June 2025.
• Vacancy Efficiency has been set as a negative budget line to support overall budget balancing for 2025/2026 financial year.
• Staff costs are underspent by approx. £56k YTD, attributable to ongoing staffing vacancies. This phased underspend has been forecast across all months and is expected to be resolved following the conclusion of pay negotiations.
• Accommodation costs were overspent by approx. £13k in June 2025, due to timing of invoice submissions.
• Running costs are currently. £109k under spent YTD, primarily due to delays in the Public Inquiry and late submissions of Legal Services invoices and also with Marketing and Media invoices.
• The Financial forecast was submitted to the Scottish Government on 14 July 2025, via the new EPM system (Oracle). Despite initial technical challenges, staff were supported by the SG Sponsor Team and the submission was completed successfully.
• The Annual Accounts have been finalised as far as possible and passed to the Comms Team for inclusion within the 2024/2025 Annual Report.

Members noted the update provided.

Any other business

Nil of note.