First Minister criticised over ‘shambolic failure’ of police IT project

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing criticism over a scrapped police IT project that has been called a “shambolic failure”.

During First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Ross MSP told the First Minister that the shelving of the multimillion pound i6 programme undermined the force.

The i6 project was agreed between Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Accenture. But in July it emerged that it could not be delivered on time.

Mr Ross said on Thursday: “The cancellation of the i6 project, which was estimated to cost £60 million, was announced hours after parliament rose for the summer recess, despite the fact that the Scottish government was made aware of the termination two weeks before that.

“Does the First Minister agree that the shambolic failure of that project undermines the great efforts of police officers and staff across the country, dealing with ever greater demands, including the challenges of dealing with a growing elderly population?”

In response, Ms Sturgeon said: “No I don’t. Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) take decisions that they consider to be appropriate and let’s not forget that our police do an absolutely fantastic job, a very difficult job. As we saw from the crime statistics earlier this week, recorded crime is now at a 42-year low in Scotland.”

She added: “If Tory MSPs want to make the case for well-funded public services, can I suggest that they start making that case with their colleagues in Westminster.”