Four new members appointed to Scottish Police Authority board

Scottish Police Authority chair Andrew Flanagan and chief executive John Foley - Image credit: Andrew Cowan

Four new members have been appointed to the board of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

Grant Macrae, Matt Smith, Caroline Stuart will join the board from 1 April, with a start date for the fourth new appointee, Robert Hayes, still to be confirmed.

Grant Macrae has a background in public sector accounting, audit and risk, as well as experience of corporate governance across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and has recently been involved in the development of international public sector accounting standards. 

Macrae worked for the Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland for a number of years auditing a range of local and central government bodies. 

His current board roles include charities, where he chairs the finance or audit and risk committees.

Matt Smith OBE DL JP is the former Scottish Secretary of UNISON, is a past president of the STUC and has considerable governance experience. 

He serves as a non-executive director with Scottish Water and as a director with the charity, UNITY Enterprise. 

Smith is a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Central Arbitration Committee, the ICAS Regulation Board and the Investigations Committee of CIPFA. 

He served as a JP for 30 years and has just completed two terms as a member of the Scottish Standards Commission. 

He will complete his term this summer as a part-time commissioner with the Scottish Human Rights Commission. 

Smith is an honorary fellow of the SCDI and was appointed in 2016 as a deputy lieutenant for Ayrshire and Arran.
  
Caroline Stuart initially worked in the City of London, where she trained as an investment analyst. 

After returning to Scotland, she managed three companies before moving into business consultancy and then joining Oracle as an industry advisor for sixteen years. She is now an independent consultant. 

She chairs Tech Partnership Scotland and sits on a number of boards and committees including Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Funding Council, Glasgow Caledonian University Court, The Data Lab, Scottish Government’s Strategic Group on Work and Women and the Scottish Government’s Digital Scotland Business Excellence Board. 

Stuart has been a Commissioner on the Widening Access and Making Maths Count Commission.

Robert Hayes is an expert in cybersecurity, crisis management and strategic risk assessment.

He is also an authority on policy and regulatory issues between government and industry in the internet, communications and computing sector.
      
Commenting on the appointments, Cabinet Secretary for Justice Michael Matheson said: “I am pleased to announce these appointments. The new members bring knowledge and experience which will strengthen and extend the range of skills on the SPA Board. 

“Their knowledge and experience will fit well with emerging challenges and the new and changing demands on policing.”

Andrew Flanagan, Chair of the SPA, said: Over the last 18 months the SPA board has broadened and strengthened its knowledge, experience and skills, particularly in the areas of finance and HR.

“These new appointments enhance that capacity further in the areas of human rights, audit, IT and cyber.

“Their skills and knowledge will be invaluable as the SPA board seeks to maintain and improve policing in an ever-changing world.”