Cash-strapped Police Scotland has more than tripled its spending on 'equality, diversity and inclusion' programmes in the last three years. New figures released under Freedom of Information show that £44,602 was forked out on outside consultants, training providers and membership bodies in 2023/24, but that rose to £129,718 in 2024/25 and £155,764 last year.
The force currently has around 38 police officers and civilian staff employed in equality and diversity posts at an estimated cost of £2.2 million.
Leadership and criticism
In May 2023, the then-outgoing Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone claimed Police Scotland was institutionally racist, sexist, misogynistic and discriminatory. When Jo Farrell, the force's first female chief constable, was appointed as his successor later that year, she agreed that the force was "institutionally discriminatory".
David Kennedy, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, questioned whether the sums being allocated to equality, diversity and inclusion were necessary. He believes that one of the reasons for the rise in spending is a response to the Sheku Bayoh public inquiry as well as the critical comments from Sir Iain Livingstone.
Mr Kennedy said: "Police Scotland have tried their best to show that they're doing everything they can as far as race is concerned. From information requests we have put in, there's no policies that have been found to be institutionally racist or discriminatory. Questions are being asked about the amount of money they are spending. Is it more about showing the public and those people who criticise the police that we are doing something? If the policies aren't discriminatory and the training is not discriminatory, the question anybody has to ask is what are they trying to fix?"
Political reaction and compensation cases
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, Stephen Kerr MSP said: "This staggering bill exposes how the SNP and Police Scotland have lost sight of their priorities. While officer numbers have been slashed and violent crime is rising, thousands are being poured into bureaucrats, consultants and ideological box-ticking instead of frontline policing. The public want more officers on our streets keeping communities safe, not an ever-growing army of diversity officials."
Police Scotland have made a number of compensation payments to female officers over allegations of discrimination. Last year, PC Denise Gemmell received more than £43,000 after a tribunal ruled she had been victimised. In 2022, the force paid out around £940,000 to former firearms officer Rhona Malone after a tribunal found she had been discriminated against following a complaint about a sexist email.
That same year a retired police officer told the public inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh that the only diversity training he received in his police career was two days in 2001. Mr Bayoh died in police custody in Kirkcaldy in 2015 and the inquiry is looking at whether race played a part.
Police Scotland response
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Police Scotland is driving a culture change towards becoming an anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, policing service which fully reflects and represents all our diverse communities. The onus is on policing to continue to earn and maintain the trust of the public and extensive work is ongoing through the Policing Together strategy to ensure that we are an organisation where our officers and staff know they belong, demonstrate our values, and take a human rights-based approach to policing. Our officers and staff in dedicated equality and diversity roles, as well as the enhanced training being provided, represent an important investment which underlines our determination to build a better, more inclusive, service."
At the weekend it was revealed that £631 million has been spent on diversity, equality and inclusion programmes by police forces across Britain since 2020.
