Attendees

Ann McGruer      Senior Review Officer (AM)

Fiona Strang       HR Administrator (FS) (agenda item 10 only)

Irina Wilkie         Head of Communications (IW)

Janice Carter      Information Officer (JC) (agenda item 9 only)

Jennifer Fisher    Executive Assistant (Minutes) (JLF)

Kevin Houliston  Senior Investigator (KH)

Laura Duguid      Finance Manager (LD)

Laura Paton        Commissioner (LP)

Phil Chapman     Director of Operations (PC) (Chair)

Ruth McCallum   HR Officer (RM) (agenda item 10 only)

Sharon Clelland   Head of Legal Services (SC)

Sharon Smit        Head of Corporate Service and Accountable Officer (SS)

Welcome and Apologies

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

Apologies

Apologies were noted from Ilya Zharov, Head of Policy and Reviews and Raymond Brown, Head of Investigations. Both were represented by departmental colleagues as noted above. 

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 September 2025 meeting.

Action Log

The current action log was reviewed - all concluded actions were removed. 

Commissioner’s Update Report

Update Report

LP provided an overview of the Commissioner’s Update report (circulated in advance), highlighting the following: 

Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry 

An update will be provided by SC under agenda item 15.

2025 Fatal Accident Inquiry Review – Sheriff Principal Abercrombie

LP advised that PIRC submitted its response to the Review’s call for evidence on 19 September 2025. A meeting involving LP, SC and representatives from the Review’s panel is scheduled for Mid-November 2025. The Review’s final report is expected to be published in December 2025. 

SHRC / INQUEST Family Listening Day

LP and KH attended the Family Listening Day event on 9 October 2025, which brought together families affected by deaths in custody in Scotland. Most attendees were bereaved families of individuals who died in prison custody, with representation from two families affected by death in police custody. 

LP reaffirmed PIRC’s commitment to reviewing and updating the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) policy, including refreshed guidance for staff who undertake FLO duties. 

Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2000: Review of the Commissioner’s functions

LP, PC and colleagues from the Scottish Government (SG) are scheduled to meet on 29 October to review the functions of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner (SBC). 

Stakeholder Engagements

LP advised she is scheduled to meet with the Deputy Crown Agent (DCA) on 22 October and invited members to identify any topics or concerns they would like raised during the meeting. 

Body Worn Video

LP advised members that she had recently heard an input from the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) at an online seminar, in which PONI highlighted concern about body-worn video (BWV) footage being accessed and shared among police officers with no policing purpose. Some supervisors in PSNI had not appreciated how problematic this was. The Police Scotland SOP on BWV makes clear BWV should only be viewed for a law enforcement or policing purpose – PIRC staff should be alert to any unnecessary viewing by police officers/staff of BWV during the course of their work.

CAAPD 

LP advised members that the current Head of Criminal Allegations Against the Police Division (CAAPD) will be moving on from the post. No replacement has been identified at this time. Further update will be provided when available. 

Members noted the update provided.            

Corporate Communications Update

Update Report

IW provided an overview of the Corporate Communications Update report (circulated in advance), highlighting the following:

Strategic Review, Business Plan and Annual Report

Progress continues as planned across all items. IW and LP are scheduled to meet to coordinate communications planning for the publication of the Annual Report. 

PIRC Advisory Board 

IW is working with SG Sponsor Team colleagues to support comms planning of the upcoming recruitment campaign. 

Comms database

Contract with ONclusive now ended. New contracts are now in place with Vuelio and content migration is underway in preparation for go-live on 1 November 2025. Preparatory work includes consideration of stakeholder lists, distribution lists and templates for staff, stakeholders and media as well as alignment with branding requirements. 

Child Friendly Complaints Handling Procedures (CFCHP)

LP noted that she and AM had met to review progress and to consider updates to the existing draft policy. It was agreed that Investigations will require a bespoke policy and procedures. A further policy will be developed and circulated in due course. 

Public Facing Reports

LP noted that this item is already addressed within the dedicated weekly Reports Meeting and does not require inclusion in the SLT update. Item to be removed from the Comms report accordingly. 

Members noted the updates provided. 

Training

Training Update Report

The training update report was taken as read and accepted without further discussion. 

IW requested an opportunity to discuss the training report content with SS outside the SLT meeting setting, with a view to identifying positive staff highlights for inclusion in internal communications. 

Finance

Management Accounts to end September 2025

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

• Grant in Aid (GIA):  cash drawn down in relation to spend was £61k below the original budget in September 2025.

• Vacancy Efficiency: A negative budget line has been introduced to reflect vacancy savings and support overall budget balancing for the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

• Staff Costs: Year-to-date (YTD) underspend of approximately £126k is attributable to ongoing staffing vacancies. This phased underspend has been forecast across the year to accommodate the anticipated cost-of-living increase, resulting in a consistent monthly underspend. This position will be resolved once a pay agreement is reached. Subject to negotiations, the intention is to implement the pay award in December 2025, backdated to April 2025. 

  • This will result in a projected year end overspend of approximately £170k. A detailed forecast report will be submitted to the November SLT meeting. 

• Accommodation Costs: YTD overspend of approximately £35k is due to increased monthly maintenance charges (approx. £1800 per month) and air conditioning works totalling £11k. 

• September expenditure included repairs to keypad entry systems for buildings and offices, replacement of key fobs, and the annual contract for access control.

SS advised that she would meet with Prospect Union representatives on 22 October and anticipates that the agenda will centre on the 2025-27 Pay Claim.

Members noted the updates provided.

Policy Documents

Human Right Portal – Proposal

AM provided an overview of the Human Rights Hub proposal (circulated in advance). 

Members expressed their support for the proposal and thanked AM and SS for their work in progressing it to this stage. 

SS advised that, as part of the proposal, there is a requirement to review the skills and training needs of the HRH group members. 

Members approved the proposal. 

PIRC Engagement Policy (working title)

AM provided an overview of the Engagement Policy (previously Unacceptable Actions Policy) (circulated in advance).

Members discussed and agreed that the policy should be renamed, with suggestions such as ‘PIRC Service Charter’ considered. 

LP requested that the appeal and review process, currently set out in the appendix, be incorporated into the main body of the document. 

LP requested that further work be undertaken to include a section addressing the issue of contacting members of PIRC staff out with official channels, specifically via personal social media accounts.

PC requested that the wording on page 6 of the policy – “decisions to restrict an individuals engagement….”, be amended to clarify that a Manager may propose that contact is restricted, with the proposal then being countersigned by the relevant Department Head and formally approved by the Director of Operations or the Commissioner. 

Members approved the policy, incorporating the amendments outlined above. 

PIRC Website Support Page

AM provided an overview of the PIRC Website Support Page content proposal (circulated in advance). 

Members approved the proposal - It was agreed that appropriate checks should be scheduled on an annual basis to ensure all hyperlinks provided remain active. IW undertook to review whether this service is provided within the service contract with web hosts. 

PIRC Publication policy (circulated and approved via correspondence on 24 September 2025)

JLF noted that the Publication Policy had been circulated to members for approval via email correspondence on 24 September 2025 and that the policy had subsequently been approved.

AOC

Nil of note.