SIA SCOTLAND

Scotland Welcomes You

Scotland

SECURITY INDUSTRY AUTHORITY

Interviews, controlling interest, march 2007, COMMENTS

Jennifer Pattinson is the Security Industry Authority’s Head of Investigation for Scotland. NIGHT caught up with her to ask some pressing questions ahead of the security sector’s reform.

Rather than tackling door supervisors first, as happened in England, in Scotland the whole of the private security industry will move through transition together ahead of a deadline date of November 2007. Why?
The benefits of a regulated private security industry are clear and the SIA is able to manage the implementation of all the sectors by November 2007. As the predicted population for licensable staff is significantly smaller, this will simplify the process as there is only one offence date.

Operators are concerned that security industry reform may lead to an industry-wide shortage of licensed staff – as happened in England and Wales. Is this a concern the SIA shares?
Training courses specific to Scotland have been available since September 2006 and we have been monitoring the training availability and uptake since then. We are satisfied that there are sufficient training places available and the uptake so far is good. It is the responsibility of door supervision supply companies, individual door supervisors and the pubs and clubs that use their services to ensure that licensable staff are trained and licensed by November 2007. Our message to the bar and club operators is to check with your security supplier now, make sure they are on track and will be ready to supply sufficient licensed staff by November

Do you have any advice for operators that will help them prevent trained staff being poached following November 2007?
Help your staff through the process of training and licence application. From experience in England and Wales suppliers and operators who showed they value their staff by helping them through the process were rewarded with staff loyalty.

What advice can you give to operators that will help ensure they have sufficient numbers of trained and badged staff ahead of the deadline?
The most important advice for operators is to start now and to do not underestimate the amount of time and resource licensing requires. Read all of the literature around the licensing process and ensure applications are correctly completed and submitted early. We would say submit all applications prior to August to be sure they are processed in time. Information to help suppliers and purchasers of security services is available on the SIA website, www.the-sia.org.uk and specific questions can be emailed to
info.scotland@the-sia.org.uk.

Scottish operators are wondering why their staff are facing an increased licence fee for initial registration – apparently in order to pay for the SIA’s expensive central London offices. Could you explain?
The licence application fee increase is not a method of the SIA accessing more funds for service improvements or office accommodation. In fact in December last year we moved our head office accommodation to cheaper more efficient offices. Over 50% of our staff does not require office accommodation and this enables our staff to be effective, efficient and extremely flexible to ensure national coverage. We have always said that the licence fee for Scotland will be the same as that for England and Wales. The increase in the licence application fee is driven solely by the requirement for the SIA to be self-funding through charging for the services it provides.

Funding is available for training. Where can supervisors and employers go to find out if they qualify?
There is limited funding available through ILA Scotland in the form of Individual learning accounts. More information can be found on the ILA website www.ilascotland.org.uk

Words: Alex Eyre

Photography: Jim Ellam

From: March 2007 Issue

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