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The Finance and Constitution Committee has published responses to the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill Financial Memorandum (FM). The FM sets out the estimated costs of introducing the legislation and subsequent costs of the changes. https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/115297.aspx
There are significant differences between the estimated costs set out in the FM, and those provided by Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Federation. The FM anticipates around £100k costs for Police Scotland: £50k for training & £50k for ICT changes. https://beta.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/current-bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill/introduced/financial-memorandum-hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill.pdf
The Police Scotland submission notes that some costs, including those associated with increased reporting & investigation, cannot be quantified at present. Training costs are estimated to be potentially much higher, at £932k. https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Finance/Inquiries/Police_Scotland.pdf
The SPF describe the costs in the FM as a ‘gross underestimation’. They consider several days training will be needed and note that 'a very conservative estimate of the cost of a single day’s training for every police officer in Scotland is £3.5 - £4M.'
https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Finance/Inquiries/3_SPF.pdf
https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Finance/Inquiries/3_SPF.pdf
The SPF submission highlights costs not accounted for in the Financial Memorandum, including those associated with investigating complaints against officers and FOI requests. They also anticipate a significant uplift in officers being called to court to give evidence.
