´óÏó´«Ã½

At Holyrood today, the presiding officer noted wryly that he was chairing "first minister's questions", not "first minister's answers".

This was aimed at Mike Rumbles, of the Lib Dems, who was voicing disquiet from a sedentary position at the content of the replies from Alex Salmond.

But I thought there was substance in the FM's words, for those who cared to listen.

There was a pretty clear hint from Mr Salmond that the current structure of eight distinct police forces in Scotland may not last.

But not, I think, signage towards a single Scotland-wide force.

The background is upcoming spending cuts - on which the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have now voiced shared concerns that the pace and depth is too excessive.

This unanimous approach was foreshadowed by talks at Stormont in which ministers from the three governments agreed to pursue a common course.

Local roots

However, in parallel with protest, there is preparation. Detailed work offstage to get ready for the cuts to come.

Hence the talk about policing. Mr Salmond was being pressed at question time by Tavish Scott, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Mr Scott warned that a single police force would lack local roots and accountability.

Under questioning, Mr Salmond offered two broad responses. One, that the public are more concerned with front-line policing than back-room organisational structures.

Two, that, under the present set-up, some twenty five per cent of the policing budget goes on headquarters functions.

Now, much of that HQ spending is vital: it could not be entirely excised, even with a single force. But perhaps, the FM appeared to be hinting, it could be reduced.

The issue is currently under scrutiny by the Scottish government, local authorities and police chiefs.

Single force

They have to balance community and regional concerns with effectiveness and, of course, cost.

I see no particular sign that the FM is intuitively attracted by the concept of a single force for the whole of Scotland.

Equally, however, he is not ruling out mergers. His line is that the public are interested in bobbies, not borders.

As an alternative, there could be sharing of back-room functions, with the retention of distinct police boards. Or combinations thereof.

Also at question time, Labour's Iain Gray attacked proposed changes to nursing employment conditions in Grampian.

Mr Salmond rebutted robustly.

More to come. Much more.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?