Highland hosts first meeting for the North on Police and Fire scrutiny
An inaugural meeting of seven Councils in the North for Police and Fire scrutiny was recently held at Highland Council’s headquarters in Inverness on 11 March. The main item was the plans for police control room changes for the north.
Hosting the meeting, Cllr Hamish Fraser, Chair of the Council’s Communities and Partnerships Committee said: “As chairs of the relevant council scrutiny committees in the Highlands and Islands, Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City we have to make sure we have the right engagement with the national services for police and fire and rescue services.
“It’s important we represent our communities’ views and scrutinise the national services locally. We are all keen to work together to make sure the national services operate in a way that makes sense locally and that we can learn from each other. For this first meeting we needed to know more about the planned changes to control rooms and all of our questions were answered; but our next step is to see a control room in action to understand the systems in place and the assurance that can provide.”
“Senior officers from Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service attended and found our meeting valuable. We were glad to welcome Chair of the Scottish Police Authority, Andrew Flanagan and Assistant Chief Constable Cowie. They will both continue to be involved in future network meetings along with the Divisional Commanders.”
Chair of the Scottish Police Authority, Andrew Flanagan said: “I was delighted to attend the North Area Chairs meeting to complement the work we do with local scrutiny Committees. It greatly helped us understand how policing is positively regarded in the North and how we can continue to work together to improve our services.”
14 Mar 2016