Holyrood will not stop city cop centre closure
Deputy first minister John Swinney has said the Scottish Government will not interfere with plans to close a police control room in Inverness.
Police Scotland’s decision to press ahead with its closure plan has drawn criticism from Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson and Highland MSP Rhoda Grant, who have called for an immediate halt to the proposals.
Frustrations have been heightened in the wake of the death of 25-year-old Lamara Bell on the M9 near Stirling last month, which police took three days to investigate after a member of the public had called a control room about the crash.
But Mr Swinney insists the decision is an operational matter for the police and the force should not be leaned on by Holyrood.
“It would be wholly inappropriate for the government to intervene in what are operational matters for the police,” he said. “People would be justifiably concerned if the government was essentially undertaking those operational decisions.
”Obviously the events around the tragedy on the M9 are events which are deeply troubling and concerning to ministers and we’ve made that very clear.”
A review into the way police handle calls in their control centres will be held following the tragedy on the M9. Miss Bell was left critically injured after the crash and was lying beside her dead boyfriend John Yuill (28).
A member of the public reported seeing their car off the road that night but the call was not properly followed up by a police officer.
Mother-of-two Miss Bell was eventually found by a farmer unconscious in the Renault Clio car three days after the crash. She was treated in hospital but died four days later.
Labour MSP Mrs Grant said the government had been “amazingly quiet” on the issue of Police Scotland pressing ahead with control room closure plans.
“We know there are already concerns that the closure of the control room in Inverness will lead to a loss of local knowledge meaning delays to response times and the like,” she said.
“I have been trying to persuade the Scottish Government to hold off police control room closures until the results of the current review are known.”
Mr Swinney, speaking as the Scottish cabinet held a meeting in Ullapool as part of a commitment to take it around the country, also addressed concerns about an annual funding shortfall for Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
The council’s Liberal Democrats have asked the government to pay up a £5.9 million shortfall and warned that operations are being cancelled because the hospital is being deprived of fair funding.
The deputy first minister said money would be paid to the health authority to addressed the shortfall but added that things had changed a lot since the Lib Dems werewhen last in government in Scotland.
“Their budget was rising every single year so the Liberal Democrats were in a position to deliver all the money in the world,” he said. “It’s much more difficult to equalise funding formulas when the money is constrained rather than rising like a rocket. We are taking steps to equalise the funding but it will take us time.”
