Police Scotland's budget for next year has been approved with a £47 million deficit as officials set out a "completely refreshed approach" to financial management.
Under new plans, the overall budget will be "devolved" to deputy chief constables (DCC) and other senior staff in a move that will make it easier to support operations, a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board meeting was told.
The SPA approved a £1.059 billion budget for policing and said it will work with Police Scotland to reduce the forecast £47 million deficit where it can.
Police Scotland deputy chief officer David Page described the force's current deficit as "an elephant" and said "we're going to eat it one bite at a time" as he set a target of 2019/20 for budget sustainability.
The SPA approved the budget, with the £47 million shortfall, asking for savings where possible.
Mr Page said: "The chief constable has set budget targets at DCC level so the overall budget for Police Scotland is now going to be devolved down to DCC level and from there is will be cascaded down to other budget holders, to chief superintendent and equivalent staff level.
"This is a new approach to budgetary control that devolves responsibility down to those who spend the money, it also means that control of spending the money is closer to the people who hold the budgets, so if people want to do things, as long as it's within their budget and we're tracking it, it shortens decision making and makes it much easier for police officers and police leaders to make decisions to support their operations on the ground.
"This gives them the autonomy to do the job much more efficiently."
Training and support is to be provided to those with responsibility for budgets.
Mr Page added: "What we're going to do in Police Scotland is a completely refreshed approach to the way we control finance.
"We're going to devolve the budgets down and these are things that we need to do to ensure that we don't fall foul of the weaknesses previously highlighted.
"It also ensures we meet budget targets set for ourselves in 2017/18, it also gives me a platform to try and exceed 2017/18 in terms of the £47 million deficit that we're carrying currently and additionally it will allow me to achieve, over the next three years, budget sustainability at the end of 2019/20 which is our objective at the end of the day.
"We're going to put clear ownership around the identification of savings to make sure that we hit the numbers we've set ourselves. We have got a £47 million outstanding budget deficit reduction target.
"We are not settling on that £47 million, we will continue to strive to reduce that but at the moment given the planning we've done and resources available, we're aiming to achieve £47 million and then we want to try and improve beyond that."
An SPA spokeswoman said: "The priority this year is for Police Scotland to deliver to the challenging revenue budget expectations we have set, and work constructively and proactively with us and the Scottish Government to identify further opportunities for in-year savings or income generation to further reduce the deficit.
"Agreeing the 2017/18 budget marks another important step on the journey to delivering the vision and objectives of the policing 2026 strategy. A journey to increase operational capacity, enhance operational capability, and bring financial sustainability by the end of 2020."
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