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Annex B
Analysis of Survey Results

While this is not the first survey that we have carried out in support of a thematic inspection, it is the first time that we have done so using the internet. Although the inspection proper focused on police officers, we felt that it would be useful to allow all members of the police service in Scotland that wished to participate in the survey, to do so. As a result, some 2,440 responses were received. This is a tremendous response, bearing in mind that respondents required internet access and forces adopted a number of different approaches to publicise and support the survey.

As might be expected, the response was not uniform across forces and agencies and therefore our study group was not representative of the Service as a whole. This means that the results cannot be assumed to represent the views of the Service as a whole. We will consult with liaison officers in each force to learn any useful lessons that might help us in future surveys.

This annex does not present a full analysis of the survey, but rather gives a flavour of the results and some of the highlights. As intimated in our introduction, we intend to issue a separate report providing a detailed analysis of the survey results.

In considering the findings below, please be aware that where no answer was given to a question by respondents, these have been omitted from the analysis.

Q1. In which force or organisation are you currently working?

The overall number of responses received from all forces and other agencies (including Scottish Police Services Authority and ACPOS Secretariat) are shown in Table 4 below, together with their percentage share of total responses. Members of staff from the eight forces, and the SPSA, as well as officers on central service all responded to the survey.

Table 4

Q3. Which of the following best describes your role in your current force or organisation?

Table 5

Q4. Please indicate your current rank.

Table 6

Responses from Chief Inspector and above include all ranks up to and including Chief Constable.

Q5. Different forces and organisations use different support staff categories and grades. Which of the following best describes the position you hold in your current force or organisation?

Table 7

Q7. Which of the following best describes the area of policing in which you work?

Table 8

Q8. How many years of service in the police service do you have? (Where applicable, please include any time you have spent in forces or police services other than your current place of work)

Table 9

Q9. How familiar are you with the National Intelligence Model or NIM as it is also called?

Table 10

Although the very and moderately familiar responses were encouraging, it was of some concern to us that 3% (44) of the responding police officers claimed to be not at all familiar with the National Intelligence Model. These officers consisted of three sergeants, 40 constables and one special constable and were spread across participating forces. Many classified themselves as being in operational roles. Of these same officers, only eight responded that they were not at all familiar with the tasking process in response to question 13. Since the majority did indicate some knowledge of the tasking process - including 12 claiming to be very familiar - it may be that the links between the terminology of NIM and its practical application have not always been understood or made clear during training or awareness sessions.

Q10. While on operational duty, do you ever have time that is NOT taken up attending incidents or conducting enquiries?

The response in Table 11 is based only on police officers.

Table 11

If only officers who indicated that they carry out operational duties are considered, then Table 12 below suggests that some 73% (797) have some unallocated time.

Table 12

Q11. Which of the following statements best describes how you use this unallocated time?

Table 13

It is interesting to note that of the officers who responded in Table 13 above, only 34% (263) perceived that on the majority of occasions their activity was directed towards tasking received at briefings. A large number - 21% (165) - gave an alternative explanation for how they directed their activities. These responses will be analysed in detail and commented on in our separate report.

Q12. And which one factor below is the most likely to influence the decision as to what to do with any unallocated time?

Table 14

Q13. How familiar are you with your department, unit, division or force tasking process (e.g. who decides what tasking should be raised, how this is then allocated, how to respond and so on)?

Table 15

Q14. How familiar are you with your organisational and/or local control strategy and its priorities?

Table 16

Q15. In your opinion, to what extent is there a link between your organisational and/or local control strategy priorities and what you do/how you carry out your daily activities?

Table 17

Q16. In your opinion, to what extent does having these priorities improve overall individual, team and organisational effectiveness i.e. what is achieved?

Individual effectiveness

Table 18

Team effectiveness

Table 19

Organisational effectiveness

Table 20

Q17. Do you receive regular appraisals or other regular types of performance review, at least once a year? (For Questions 17-23, if you have been in your current post for less than a year and would not expect to have had an appraisal/review by this time, please answer this and following questions by drawing on experiences from your most recent previous post)

Table 21

Q18. How frequently do your appraisals and/or performance reviews take place? (Please tick as many as apply)

Table 22

Q19. Do your appraisals or other regular performance reviews tend to be completed on time?

Table 23

We were greatly concerned to learn of appraisals and performance reviews not being completed on time. This was particularly apparent amongst police officers. The failure of supervisors to complete appraisals within the required timescales has traditionally contributed to the overall failing of such systems since the relevance of this sort of review deteriorates rapidly over time. The figures were to some extent skewed by one force that managed to complete 70% of appraisals on time on most or all occasions. If the responses for this force are taken out then Table 24 below gives a more representative picture of the situation for our wider sample.

Table 24

Q20. During your appraisals or performance reviews, are personal objectives identified and set for you to achieve during the appraisal/review period?

Table 25

Q21. And in your opinion, do you feel that your personal objectives are appropriate for you and your role?

Table 26

Q22. During your appraisals or performance reviews, is your performance subsequently assessed against these personal objectives?

Table 27

Table 28 below shows the responses for officers in the rest of Scotland having removed the two best performing forces.

Table 28

Q23. In your opinion, does having set personal objectives have a positive influence on how well you do your job?

Table 29

Q24. Whether or not it is done regularly, when you are assessed to what extent do you feel that your performance is measured against specific force and/or local priorities?

Table 30

Q25. Thinking of the department, unit or division in which you work, in your opinion to what extent to you think good performance is praised?

Table 31

Q26. And still thinking of the department, unit or division in which you work, in your opinion to what extent to you think poor performance is challenged?

Table 32

Q27. Please use this space to provide any further comment that you wish to make e.g. about what you feel are the main issues in this area, anything that we have have not covered but about which you feel strongly, or indeed anything that you feel may help us in this inspection.

A large number of respondents - 21% (491) - provided further comments. These will be analysed in detail and commented on in the separate report that will be issued on the survey.

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