Scottish Police Authority

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Project Overview

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 created the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and set out its five core functions:

To maintain the Police Service.
To promote the policing principles set out in the 2012 Act.
To promote and support continuous improvement in the policing of Scotland.
To keep under review the policing of Scotland.
To hold the Chief Constable to account for the policing of Scotland.

These five functions demonstrate the dual, integrated responsibilities of the SPA: its oversight role in scrutinising policing in Scotland and holding the Chief Constable to account; and its supportive role in maintaining and improving the police service. The SPA is also responsible for the management and delivery of Forensic Services in Scotland.

The Authority aims to increase public trust and confidence in the policing of Scotland in the way it carries out its functions and through the quality of its governance arrangements. Read the following link to find out more about the Authority’s Corporate Governance Framework.

Chair of the Authority - Martyn Evans

Martyn is Chair of the Authority. He joined as a board member in June 2018 before being appointed Chair in January 2021. He has wide-ranging executive and non-executive experience in the voluntary and public sectors.

Martyn Evans BA (hons) MA (econ) FRSA was the first Chair and Independent Trustee of the Alex Ferry Foundation, a new grant making philanthropic charity which aims to improve the lives of people who work or have worked in the UK shipbuilding, engineering and related manufacturing industries, as well as their families and dependents. In April 2019 Martyn accepted the invitation to become Executive Chair and stood down from that post in May 2020.

Martyn was previously Chief Executive of the Carnegie UK Trust for 10 years having been appointed in November 2009. The Trust is an independent endowed Foundation.

He was Director of the Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) from 1998 to 2009 and a visiting Professor of Law at the University of Strathclyde from 1995-2001.

Prior to taking up his post with SCC he was Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Advice Scotland for five years and Director of Shelter (Scottish Campaign for Homeless People) from 1987 to 1992.

Scottish Institute for Policing Research