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Review of Marches and Parades in Scotland

Part Three: Recommendations

Introduction to part three

1. There were five elements to my remit and I have grouped my recommendations in line with those five elements:

Chapter 12 - Period of Notice - recommendations 1 - 8;
Chapter 13 - Informing and Involving the Community - recommendations 9 - 14;
Chapter 14 - Decision making - recommendation 15 to 23;
Chapter 15 - Numbers and effects on communities - recommendations 24 - 35; and
Chapter 16 - Police costs - recommendations 36 - 38.

There is, of course, an interaction and interdependence between them and it is best if my recommendations are viewed as a package which, if implemented, should lead to a modernised and professional decision making process which will improve people's experiences of processions. They should ensure better organised processions, minimising unnecessary disruption. My recommendations aim to strike a balance between the rights of those who want to march and the rights of communities to go about their daily business undisturbed.

2. My recommendations for improvements are made to the Scottish Executive and it will be for them to decide to accept or reject them. It will also be for them to consider how my recommendations can best be implemented to ensure they achieve the intended purpose. It is likely, however, that some of my recommendations will require changes to legislation and may take time to effect. Others might be able to be taken forward without such legislative changes. Successful implementation is likely to require the commitment of all involved in processions, including the Scottish Executive, local authorities and the police as well as the commitment of organisers.

12 Recommendations on first element of remit - the period of notice

Introduction and summary

12.1 This chapter makes recommendations on the first element of my remit, the period of notice organisers are required to give to local authorities and the police. It also makes recommendations on some related issues, such as the processes I consider should be followed during the notification period and which organisations should be required to give notice.

12.2 My recommendations propose that organisers in general give 28 days notice of their intention to hold a procession, although this timescale should be waived in certain limited circumstances. No one should be exempt from this requirement. Local authorities and the police should develop expertise in dealing with notifications through putting in place 'single gateways'. There should be clear steps to be taken during the extended notice period. As part of the process of considering a notification, local authorities should complete risk assessments and impact analyses on notifications. To ensure that the recommendations are being followed, there should be effective monitoring systems put in place. The development and sharing of good practice should also be supported.

Recommendations

Extending the period of notice

12.3 Under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, organisers are only required to give local authorities and the police seven days notice of their intention to hold a procession. While this is similar to the requirement in England and Wales, it is much shorter than the 28 day notification required in Northern Ireland. Local authorities then have only seven days to consider the application and are required to give the organiser their decision on the notice as early as possible and wherever it is practical at least two days before the procession is due to take place. Seven days notice clearly allows local authorities time only to give notifications the most cursory of consideration and it is difficult for them to do anything other than seek a view from the police, to inform the local councillor of the proposal and to consider appropriate traffic management options. It allows little time for wider consultation or to tell people about forthcoming processions.

12.4 The information I have collected during the Review and views expressed to me suggest that the current system only seems to work because most organisers act responsibly and give as much notice as they can, in many cases at least a month and sometimes considerably longer. A large majority of people supported an extension of the notification period. They had varying views about how long an extended period should be from a small increase to 14 days, through 28 days to two months and, in some cases, considerably longer. A longer notification period would: enable local authorities to consider the notification in more detail; help more effective planning of police resources; and ensure that communities have more notice of proposed processions in their areas and an opportunity to express their views. I consider 28 days represented a more appropriate notification period.

12.5 I recommend that organisers, in the majority of cases, be required to give the local authority and the police at least 28 days notice. As at present, where organisers can give longer notice they should do so.

Recommendation 1

• Organisers should give 28 days notice to local authorities and the police of their intention to hold a procession.

Exceptions to the 28 day period

12.6 The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 provides for local authorities to dispense with the seven day notification period. I think it is important to ensure that provision for an exemption to the notification period continues and recommend that local authorities should be able to waive the notification period in certain circumstances, for example, where the reason for the procession could not have reasonably been foreseen. This would cover processions that take place as a result of a political announcement, an economic announcement (for example to close a factory), a local decision (for example to close a hospital), or a sporting achievement. Where the notification period is shorter than the general 28 day period, certain of the key steps outlined under recommendation 5 might need to be missed out. However, wherever possible organisers should ensure they give at least 28 days notice.

Recommendation 2

• In certain circumstances, where processions are arranged in response to unforeseen events, the 28 days notification period should be waived and organisers should be able to give less notice.

Exempt organisations

12.7 The current legislation enables local authorities to exempt organisers from giving notice to them of their intention to hold a procession. To do this, local authorities need to make an order listing the exempt groups. It is clear that this power has been differently interpreted across local authorities with some authorities having very few exempt organisations and others having upwards of 300. In many cases, these organisations will currently need to notify the police to ensure that there is appropriate policing for their processions. Many exempt organisations already notify the council and are often separately in contact with various departments of the council to discuss traffic management arrangements or possible licensing requirements. The legislation also exempts organisers of processions commonly or customarily held from notifying local authorities, although again these organisers will in many cases inform the police. The provision for exempt organisations means that local authorities will never the have full picture of the events taking place in their area nor can communities be aware of all the processions that may affect them.

12.8 I recommend that all organisations be required to inform local authorities of their intention to hold a procession, although there might be scope for certain organisations to be exempt from some of the other requirements which I later recommend. This is a different approach from that currently adopted but I think it is important that there is a more consistent approach. Notification should not be an onerous requirement, as exempt groups organising processions currently contact the police and are very often in contact with the council. It should not discourage small, community groups from holding processions. It will add a small additional step to their planning process. However, it will ensure that local authorities and communities have the full picture of processions taking place in their areas and the possible disruption that might be caused. It will help to identify possible clashes in times and routes between processions being organised.

Recommendation 3

• All organisers should notify their intention to march to local authorities and the police.

A 'single gateway' in local authorities and the police

12.9 Organisers currently send their notifications to a variety of local authority departments such as the council solicitor, the chief executive's department or the clerk of the licensing committee. Depending on the nature of their notification, organisers may then have contact with a wide range of council officials from those dealing with transport and traffic management to those dealing with entertainment licensing. In day to day dealings with the police, organisers also report contact with a number of different officers. The range of contact points can be confusing for organisers. Some organisers have pointed out the difficulty of identifying an appropriate contact point or from where they can obtain advice. There is also a risk of organisers being given inconsistent advice from different parts of organisations.

12.10 I have seen good practice in some authorities in helping organisers take forward their planning where specialised units coordinating arrangements for processions and other events have been developed. This allows expertise to develop and also ensures that organisers get consistent, expert advice. It also allows good networks of contacts to be built up and good practice to be developed. I think that a more coordinated approach would be helpful to local authorities, the police and to organisers and recommend that local authorities and the police establish a 'single gateway' within their respective organisations to coordinate notifications for processions.

Recommendation 4

• Local authorities and the police should set up 'single gateways' within their organisations to deal with procession notifications.

Action by local authorities during the 28 day notification period

12.11 The current legislation allows little time for notifications to be considered and local authorities and the police have developed, over time, their own systems to ensure that they are meeting the statutory timetable and requirements. These systems differ across Scotland, reflecting in part different local circumstances, but also leading to a lack of consistency in the way that notifications are handled. A longer notification period will allow more time for notifications to be analysed in greater detail. While it is important to ensure there is space for local discretion, it is also important to ensure that there is a more consistent approach with some key standard steps taken in all local authorities and police forces.

12.12 I recommend that there be some standard key steps, agreed with local authorities and the police, to be taken in the 28 day notification period. This will be helpful in setting out clearly to all involved how the notification will be considered. There should be a clear timetable for the key steps that need to be taken in the assessment process. It will ensure a more consistent and professional approach to assessments and will also ensure that the procedures for taking decisions are transparent to organisers and communities. There could be exemptions from some of these key steps for certain organisations and processions where the 28 day notification period has been waived.

12.13 I consider that the key steps to be taken should include:

Recommendation 5

• Local authorities and the police should take certain key steps to assess notifications during the extended notification period.

Risk assessment and impact analysis

12.14 A longer notification period will allow local authorities to complete a more detailed risk assessment and impact analysis of notifications. There is considerable expertise and guidance on how to complete a risk assessment. 'The Event Safety Guide - a guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events' produced by the Health and Safety Executive is a key source of advice. It describes the purpose of a risk assessment as being to 'identify hazards which could cause harm, assess the risks which may arise from those hazards and decide on suitable measures to eliminate, or control, the risk.' 'Hazards' are defined as 'anything which has the potential to cause harm to people' such as a dangerous property or an item or a substance, a condition, a situation or an activity. 'Risk' is the 'likelihood that the harm from a hazard is realised and the extent of it'. In risk assessments, risk should reflect both the likelihood that harm will occur and its severity. There are some straightforward steps in risk assessment, deciding what the risks are, deciding what the consequences would be, deciding how likely they are, deciding what needs to be done to negate or reduce the risk and deciding who needs to do it.

12.15 The risk assessment completed by the local authority will highlight issues that it needs to take into account when reaching a decision on a notification. For example, it might show that the route takes the marchers pass a building due for demolition and so an alternative route would need to be considered. A risk assessment will produce good quality factually based material used to inform the decision making process.

12.16 A risk assessment should also be accompanied by an impact analysis. This will enable the local authority to identify systematically the impact a procession might have. The authority could consider the disruption to the life of the community that a procession might cause, for example disruption to traffic, to access, and to business. In analysing the impact they would need to consider whether there were other events taking place that would affect the proposed procession. As part of the impact analysis, local authorities may want to consider the impact that the numbers of parades are having in a particular area. Again, this will produce good quality factually based material that should be used to inform the decision making process.

12.17 These assessments should be done by the 'single gateway' ensuring expertise and a consistency of approach.

12.18 This does not take away from the organisers' own responsibility to carry out their own risk assessment and I look at organisers' responsibility in some detail in Chapter 15 dealing with the fourth element of my remit, looking at the numbers of marches and the effects of processions on communities.

Recommendation 6

• Local authorities should complete risk assessments and impact analyses on notifications to provide good quality, factually based information to inform the decision making process.

Making sure new procedures are implemented effectively

12.19 My recommendations are, in the main, not prescriptive and allow local authorities and the police an appropriate level of discretion to enable them to put in place arrangements which are appropriate for their local circumstances. What is important is that they do put in place effective arrangements so that they follow the key standard steps. To ensure that this happens and the various mechanisms are effective, there needs to be an independent monitoring system. I recommend that the Scottish Executive looks in detail at how this could be achieved. I do not think that this requires a separate body but would hope that this could build on existing monitoring arrangements. It should not be overly burdensome for authorities or the police, or indeed, those carrying out the monitoring.

12.20 Such monitoring could look to local authorities and the police to demonstrate that they had in place effective arrangements for marches and processions in line with the recommended changes to the processes, including having in place effective mechanisms to gather and take into account community views. A regular report should be produced on how the procedures are being implemented and the effects that they are having. The report should be publicly available so that local communities can see how their authorities and police force are implementing the procedures and taking decisions on marches.

Recommendation 7

• The Scottish Executive should ensure that there are effective monitoring arrangements in place to demonstrate that local authorities and the police are implementing the new procedures in a way appropriate to their local circumstances with a regular public report produced.

Sharing good practice

12.21 It is clear that arrangements for handling notifications on processions vary across Scotland. A longer notification period and some standard key steps which need to be taken in assessing notifications will result in a more professional and transparent decision making process.

12.22 I welcomed, during the course of the Review, the good practice developed in some areas, for example in producing clear and straightforward guidance for organisers and in developing coordinating units within local authorities. It is important that the experiences surrounding processions are more widely shared so that those involved can learn from each other. While there will always be differences in authorities' approaches for good reasons, there is scope for sharing experiences and processes. For example, local authorities might want to share information about the variability of conditions they set for marchers' behaviour and on how they take forward community consultation or develop 'How To' guidance for organisers. There is an important role here for local authorities associations and networks (like COSLA and SOLACE) and for police associations (like ACPOS, ASPS and SPF).

Recommendation 8

• Local authority associations and police associations should ensure good practice is shared more widely.

First element of remit: period of notice - summary of recommendations

Recommendation 1

• Organisers should give 28 days notice to local authorities and the police of their intention to hold a procession.

Recommendation 2

• In certain circumstances, where processions are arranged in response to unforeseen events, the 28 days notification period should be waived and organisers should be able to give less notice.

Recommendation 3

• All organisers should notify their intention to march to local authorities and the police.

Recommendation 4

• Local authorities and the police should set up 'single gateways' within their organisations to deal with procession notifications.

Recommendation 5

• Local authorities and the police should take certain key steps to assess notifications during the extended notification period.

Recommendation 6

• Local authorities should complete risk assessments and impact analyses on notifications to provide good quality, factually based information to inform the decision making process.

Recommendation 7

• The Scottish Executive should ensure that there are effective monitoring arrangements in place to demonstrate that local authorities and the police are implementing the new procedures in a way appropriate to their local circumstances with a regular public report produced.

Recommendation 8

• Local authority associations and police associations should ensure good practice is shared more widely.

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