On top of £60 million in additional funding for its resource budget and £15 million to help mitigate pandemic costs, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) will receive £10 million to invest in modernising the police fleet this year.
The funding will enable the purchase of around 235 new ultra-low emission vehicles by Police Scotland, replacing 140 existing petrol or diesel vehicles across a range of essential, specialist policing functions.
This fleet upgrade will allow a faster transition to decarbonisation and towards the vision of having the UK’s first ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV) blue light fleet by 2030.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP said:
“The SNP Government will support Police Scotland with an additional £10 million to invest in modernising its fleet which will also enable the acceleration of plans to transition to a sustainable ULEV fleet.
“This is in addition to the record £1.3 billion to be invested in policing next year, which includes a £60 million increase in the SPA resource budget and an extra £15 million to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“I am delighted that the SNP Government has provided a total of £85 million in additional funding for the SPA, vehicle fleet modernisation and mitigating the pandemic.
“These additional resources will help Police Scotland keep our streets safe, while the strategy of focusing on fleet decarbonisation demonstrates ambitious leadership.”
Martyn Evans, SPA Chair, added:
“This is an extremely welcome investment which adds significant momentum to meeting the Authority's and Police Scotland’s ambitious carbon emission targets. We can now ensure 20% of the police fleet is green within the coming year.”
Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone commented:
"This additional capital funding for policing is a significant step forward in providing appropriate investment in policing infrastructure. Our operational demands and plans mean we can quickly make use of such funding to give officers and staff the tools they need to do their jobs.
"Reform of Scotland’s policing has brought many benefits to all communities across the country at a much lower cost to the public purse. This welcome investment and the decision to eliminate policing's structural funding deficit reflects the significant value policing provides to the public we serve."
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