Whether it will provide an update on what action the (a) Scottish Police Authority and (b) Chief Constable took in light of the recommendat…

(a) The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) considered the Scottish Police Federation’s (SPF) Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions which were planned and put in place by Police Scotland. The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.
(b) Police Scotland closed its Oban custody suite between 3rd and 7th May 2019 to allow for urgent upgrade works to be carried out, during which time custody suite operations were moved to Fort William.
Following this initial work, the custody suite was re-opened and a continuous and extensive programme of upgrade works was implemented at Oban, both to the police station and the custody suite. As a result of this work Police Scotland is confident that the works identified in the SPF report were completed and the standard across both the police station and the custody suite were significantly improved.
Following the publication of the SPF report, additional inspections have been introduced and further works have been carried out which involved close collaboration with Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team, SPF and Union representatives. Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team has confirmed that the improvement works meet health and safety requirements.
Given the age of Oban Police Station, Police Scotland has embarked on a programme of work which seeks to replace Oban Police Station, including a new custody suite.