Nicola Sturgeon defends Police Scotland funding amid claims of 'stealth cuts'
Nicola Sturgeon has hit back at accusations of ''stealth cuts'' to policing after a report showed Police Scotland and its oversight body face a funding gap of almost £190 million by 2020/21.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson challenged Ms Sturgeon over the policing budget during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood.
It followed an Audit Scotland report that concluded Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) ''continue to suffer from weak financial leadership and considerable budget pressures'' for the third year running.
The First Minister insisted the draft budget unveiled by Finance Secretary Derek Mackay last week put the force and the SPA on a ''good financial footing''.
But Ms Davidson said: ''The Scottish Government is claiming that the policing budget is going up by £7 million in real terms, but like everything else in last week's budget, it's not quite what it seems. The reform budget which was at £55 million last year was reduced to £36 million for this year. We asked the Scottish Police £ederation about this and they say that despite its name and what the First Minister tries to claim, this budget is crucial in terms of service delivery. So in fact far from increasing the amount of money the single force has by £7 million, it appears the SNP is actually cutting it by almost £12 million. So can I just ask, on top of cuts to councils and double counting, isn't this just another stealth cut that is emerging from Derek Mackay's slightly unravelling budget?''
Ms Sturgeon said the report had highlighted both Police Scotland and the SPA have taken steps to improve their financial leadership and governance arrangements, but these have not yet had a chance to have an impact.
She added: ''The resource budget of the Scottish Police Authority is not increasing by £7 million as Ruth Davidson says, it's increasing by £19 million real terms protection for the resource budget. The capital budget is going up by just under £4 million, also a real terms increase. That is the reality. Ruth Davidson talks about the reform budget, the reform budget should have been completely ended I think two financial years ago, instead of that we have continued the support through the reform budget to assist the police in making the reforms that they need.''
Ms Sturgeon continued: ''The only criticism last week that Ruth Davidson wanted to make about our budget was that we weren't giving big enough tax cuts to the richest earners in Scotland. So here is the incoherence and the inconsistency at the heart of the Tory proposition - tax cuts for the rich but standing up here asking for more money for every single public service.''
The First Minister said a potential source of additional money for Police Scotland was the £25 million lost as a result of the UK Government's refusal to exempt the service from VAT, describing it as ''political spite''.
In response, Ms Davidson said: ''The charges from the Auditor General are weak financial leadership, inaccurate records and poor financial management. Running to 'Westminster bad' is not exactly going to cut it, First Minister.''
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: ''Rather than having a force that is committed to keeping our communities safe, we have one that is desperately trying to balance the books. When will the First Minister realise that our public services are in crisis?''
She criticised Ms Sturgeon for the Scottish Government's decision to publish the damning'' Audit Scotland report 90 minutes before First Minister's Questions, asking:What was she trying to hide?''
Ms Dugdale said: ''If the First Minister had any confidence in this report she wouldn't have published it two hours before the Christmas recess. There's a shortfall of £200 million in the police service and this is a service she says she is protecting. God help our schools and hospitals. The truth is the SNP is cutting £327 million from public services. When will the First Minister do the right thing and stop the cuts?''
Ms Sturgeon said they had until December 31 to publish the report but had done so before First Minister's Questions, having received the reports last Thursday.
She called on Labour to support the Scottish Government's call for VAT on Police Scotland to be scrapped and said the Government's draft budget was providing £240 million more for local services and would ''protect public services''.