SMT Online Editor's View: Holyrood awakening

11 Mar 10

The Third Parliamentary Reception run by the Scottish Business Crime Centre was held last week in ‘Old Town’ Edinburgh. Reporting direct from Holyrood, Brian Sims discovers exactly how effective partnership working is paying massive security dividends north of the border.

By Brian Sims

When I met up with SecuriGroup managing director Russel Kerr just before Christmas – it was Tuesday 15 December, if I’m being precise – for a spot of luncheon at Glasgow’s famed Moskito Restaurant and Bar on Bath Street in the West End of the city, he mentioned in passing a Parliamentary Reception that his company would be supporting early in 2010.

The event in question occurred on the evening of 2 March amid the – admittedly modern day – pomp and splendour of The Garden Lobby at Holyrood, the still-sparkling Edinburgh base of the Scottish Parliament which, for myriad reasons, has not been without its critics.

Critics who, in the main, still complain vociferously over both cost and time overruns on construction and the quirky building’s external appearance (which sits somewhat uneasily with traditional Edinburgh-style architecture, it must be said) rather than what has subsequently been said in the crucial political debates intermittently launched from within.

As I recall, the choices of location, architect, design and construction company were all heavily damned by politicians, the media and, indeed, tax-paying members of the good Scottish public.

Scheduled to open in 2001, Holyrood eventually flung wide its doors three years later toting an estimated final price tag running to a cool £414 million. When you consider that initial final costings were scheduled to be between £10 million and £40 million, it’s easy to see why questions were asked!

The Stirling Prize doesn’t lie

Despite all the apparent unrest, the Holyrood complex was duly welcomed by architectural puritans, academics and critics alike. Indeed, since 2004 it has won numerous construction-related accolades (including the hugely prestigious 2005 Stirling Prize, no less).

Today, the new Scottish Parliament Building hosts 129 MSPs and more than 1,000 staff and civil servants. It has recently been described as “a tour de force of arts, crafts and quality without parallel in the last 100 years of British architecture”. Who am I, Ladies and Gentlemen, to argue with that particular assessment?

Anyway, I’d spent the afternoon prior to my Holyrood visit working at SecuriGroup’s Glasgow office, where I was warmly welcomed into the fold and treated like a King by projects director Beverly McKenzie, events operations manager Chris Callaghan (who kindly chauffeured me to Edinburgh) and operations director David Wilson.

Working away on an article about the previous evening’s launch of SafeGuard at the Houses of Parliament, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the evening ahead. To be honest, all I could envision was around 30 or 40 luminaries assembled to hear a short, sharp speech and then indulge in some waiter/waitress-delivered nibbles alongside polite conversation. How wrong can you be?

Having passed through an extremely tight security regime on arrival (a regime staffed by very pleasant, jovial officers obviously enjoying their work), it soon became apparent that this Parliamentary Reception – and the Scottish Business Crime Centre (SBCC) – was (and is) a very big deal indeed.

The Guest List stretched beyond 200 names and, if truth be told, represented the Cream of the Security Business Crop. From the Security Industry Authority (SIA) there was chief executive Bill Butler, ACS assistant director Andrew Shephard and Board director Bill Matthews. The BSIA’s technical director Alex Carmichael was there, so too Paul Mackie (compliance director at CameraWatch), Ken Macdonald (from the Information Commissioners Office) and Skills for Security’s chief executive David Greer.

On a rough count, there were 14 MSPs in attendance, plenty of representatives from G4S Secure Solutions (UK), umpteen security managers and directors of security from across the public and private sectors as well as senior-ranking officers of Strathclyde Police and the Lothian and Borders Police just for good measure.

All the blue chips in the House

That’s not all, folks. There were also key moguls from Crimestoppers Scotland and senior practitioners representing organisations as diverse as the Lloyds Banking Group, Hewlett Packard, KPMG, the Belhaven Brewery Company and Ernst & Young.

Of course, the prime mover in all of this – Alan Dobie, the Scottish Business Crime Centre’s popular and very hard-working executive director – was on hand as always. I’m visiting Stirling University on 22 March to interview Alan, so look out for the results of that discussion on SMT Online in due course. It will be well worth a read, I assure you.

Interestingly, Ronnie Hawthorn and David Branning – specialists in charge of security at Celtic Park – were in the audience, but a like-for-like representation courtesy of SPL Champions Rangers and their Ibrox home in Govan was conspicuous by its absence.

Given the unusual number of losses and goals leaked by the East End of Glasgow’s finest this season, it’s likely Ronnie and David’s BlackBerry hand-helds would have been vibrating all night with Celtic manager Tony Mowbray’s pleading phone calls enquiring as to how he can stop Artur Boruc’s perimeter protection devices from being breached!

Anyway, I digress. Like I said, this event was massively important (as is the SBCC on an ongoing basis). Confirmation as to why this happens to be a statement of fact slowly emerged when, one after another, the four main speakers for the evening strutted their educational stuff.

First to the podium was Bill Aitken MSP, the Shadow Cabinet’s Secretary for Justice and convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee (who also ‘sponsored’ the Parliamentary Reception itself).

“There’s now a high degree of sophistication among the criminal fraternity across the UK and, most notably, in Scotland,” said Aitken. “We’re absolutely determined to do whatever we have to in order to fight the criminals, and take on and beat the huge and growing threat now posed by serious and organised crime.”

Nothing if not a ‘Call To Arms’

To assist in realising his ambitions, Conservative die-hard Aitken urged “everyone in this room, and organisations like your own” to persistently engage in the exchange of information and Best Practice ideas and dissuade the thieves. “What we need on a continual basis is a combined approach to tackle the blight of crime and criminality.”

Aitken’s speech was nothing if not a ‘Call To Arms’. A rallying cry from the heart of a former District Court Judge that very definitely struck a chord with myself and everyone else in the – by now – white and red wine-sipping (but most certainly 100% attentive) audience.

Next up was Ken Russell, chairman of the Scottish Business Crime Centre who, in his ‘day job’, is the director of John G Russell (Transport) Ltd. Let me tell you that Ken wasted no time at all in nailing his colours to the mast.

“Business crime is costing this country billions of pounds every year,” said an already impassioned chairman of the FTA National Rail Council. “At the end of the day, that cost is often picked up by the end user through on-charges. It’s up to all of us to do something about that.”

As you would expect, Russell then went on to explain in a little more detail what it is the SBCC does in “punching well above its weight”.

Created in 1996 under the Business Crime Reduction Strategy for Scotland, the Centre’s whole raison d’etre is to continue nurturing a unique partnership approach between the police service, the business community and Government, in turn providing practical advice to the business/commercial sectors on how best to develop business crime reduction and prevention strategies.

The overriding aim is to reduce business crime by way of: promoting specific initiatives within industry sectors and community groups, sharing Best Practice approaches to business-related crime prevention, raising awareness of the level, impact and cost of business crime and creating and supporting a network of relevant partnerships and programmes.

Solid support from Parliament

In essence, the SBCC is a Not-For-Profit organisation that has creditably grown quite considerably these past five years, in no small measure thanks to the stonewall support of the Scottish Parliament (which, last summer, made it clear in no uncertain terms that it wished to wage war on organised crime), the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the Scottish arm of the Confederation of British Industry.

“A key part of the Government’s strategy was the creation of the Scottish Intelligence and Co-ordination Unit, which also supports the creation of two new posts dedicated towards business crime,” continued Russell.

The new posts of business crime intelligence officer and a business crime strategic analyst originated from a business case recently developed by the Centre, which is currently working together with the SCDEA to develop the precise role requirements and working arrangements for these new posts.

Russell added: “This will ensure that future activity is closely aligned to the work of the Scottish Business Crime Centre and the issues affecting the Scottish business community as a whole. This initiative will provide us with a wonderful intelligence platform on which to base our development of the Centre, and to provide a greater targeted impact in terms of our fight against business crime.”

In the last 12 months alone, the SBCC has organised in excess of 20 conferences aimed at highlighting several issues concerning crime prevention and reduction. Thanks to its work, for example, Safer Car Parks now has close on 300 accredited car parks on its list.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, membership at the SBCC has soared from a relatively small base to 240 members and partners linked to it through the delivery of various and varied initiatives.

“Of course, we’re maintaining our vital partnerships with, among others, the Scottish Community Safety Network, Crimestoppers Scotland and Secured By Design,” enthused Russell, “all of whom are essential and valued partners.”

Funding via the European Commission

Working alongside the University of Glasgow, through the European Commission the SBCC has managed to obtain 200,000 Euros worth of funding, enabling research that validates its working model in a European context. That review has included some desk research, so too interviews with the team at the Centre and key members and partners.

The Mission Statement for the SBCC is clear and simple: ‘Our mission is to reduce business crime in Scotland, and to create a safe and secure trading environment in which businesses and communities flourish, employment opportunities are developed and prosperity is encouraged’. Very laudable.

Of the immediate future, Russell explained: “We want to increase the reach of the Safer Areas scheme to the entirety of Scotland, develop the roles of the intelligence officer and business analyst, work with the ACPOS-led Scottish Financial Crime Group and our colleagues in Wales to develop an E-Crime Scotland website and continue to work alongside the Scottish Commercial Crime Group [also ACPOS-led] in identifying and effectively dealing with the emerging threats.”

John Malcolm QPM – the former assistant chief constable (crime) at Strathclyde Police and now chairman of SecuriGroup – was the senior investigating officer covering the terrorist attack on Glasgow International Airport back in 2007.

In addition, he used to be the divisional commander in charge of policing at Ibrox, so I guess you could say the Gers did have some representation in the Garden Lobby after all.

According to Malcolm, the private security sector north of the border makes something in the region of a £200 million contribution to the Scottish economy every year. Not chicken feed, by any means.

“The Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow in 2014 affords us a great opportunity to really show what we can do, and that we can deliver,” asserted Malcolm, who mentioned with obvious pride the fact that SecuriGroup scooped the ACS Champion of the Year gong at our own 2009 Security Excellence Awards ceremony last October.

Words of encouragement from the minister

“Through co-operation we can build a secure future” was Malcolm’s concluding salvo, and one not lost on the last speaker of the evening – Fergus Ewing MSP, the Minister for Community Safety.

Educated at Glasgow University, Ewing was elected as the MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber in 1999 (and then re-elected in both 2003 and 2007). Prior to this political engagement, he ran his own law practice and developed Scottish National Party policy on small businesses.

Ewing used his time at the podium to wax lyrical on the Best Bar None Awards, a scheme that’s an integral part of the Safe City Centres and Safe Town Centres initiatives within Scotland.

The scheme focuses on safety and customer care, and gives each licensed venue the opportunity to prove it meets a standard of operation set at a national level in consultation with the Government and the alcohol industry. It rewards safe and well-managed licensed premises with the issue of a display plaque which can be used to promote a given venue.

The overall aim of the initiative is for partner agencies to work together with licensed premises to create safer and more welcoming city and town centre environments. How the UK could do with more schemes like this one.

“Best Bar None is a brilliant idea,” said the MSP. “It’s not just the managers of bars and pubs who are involved. All the members of staff are behind it. The point is that it’s making a huge contribution to peoples’ Health and Safety and general well-being when they’re on a night out.”

Ewing also stated a bold ambition. “I want to see the taxpayers’ contribution to fighting crime in Scotland, which averages out at around £800,000 over each three-year period, reduced to zero by dint of a substantial expansion of business support for the Scottish Business Crime Centre.”

Everyone united behind a single, worthy cause

Barely pausing for breath, Ewing added: “The fight against criminality is not a matter that creates party political division. We are all united and in that fight together as one.”

To finish, a buoyant Ewing decided to quote the 40th President of the United States – the late, great Ronald Reagan – who once famously said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the Government and I’m here to help’…”

The fact that, strictly speaking, we’re dealing with eleven words in that sentence is really neither here nor there. What’s important is the comment Ewing made to book-end the evening before networking began.

“We really are here to help you, so let’s make a difference!”

These days, the phrase ‘business partnering’ is very de rigueur but, in truth, often uttered many more times than it’s delivered in the real world.

Lendrum (1977) spells out its meaning on Wikipedia as: “The development of successful, long-term and strategic relationships between customers and suppliers based on achieving Best Practice and sustainable competitive advantage.”

For its part, the SBCC is putting business partnering into practice with aplomb, achieving phenomenal results into the bargain.

To the best of my knowledge, there’s nothing like it in existence to serve England, Wales or Northern Ireland. On the evidence presented, one might respectfully suggest that situation ought to be hastily addressed.

Until next time…