POLICE Scotland has spent more than £115 million on overtime payments since it was created five years ago, figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws have shown.

The statistics, which show that £115.43m has been spent on overtime since the force was established in 2013, also reveal that the sums are set to rise in the current year.

The force attributes the rise to specific extra costs such as the terror threat level being raised to critical last year.

The figures were obtained from the service by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, who have called on Police Scotland to conduct an service-wide survey to measure staff wellbeing after one carried out in 2015 found staff believed resources were stretched.

“Police officers and staff work around the clock to keep us safe. All of us are grateful for the dangerous and difficult work that they do on our behalf,” said LibDem justice spokesperson Liam McArthur.

“These figures show the enormous overtime bill racked up since day one of Police Scotland. We know that officers and staff often feel up against it. The 2015 staff survey showed that they felt the service and its resources were stretched.

“That is why Scottish Liberal Democrats have called for a repeat of that service-wide survey to find out what has, or hasn’t, improved. We need a balanced workforce with fair and safe working conditions and the tools they need to do the job.”

Meanwhile, a Holyrood committee will consider whether legal changes are needed to the law governing the Scotland-wide police and fire services as part of a new inquiry its the services.

The Police and Fire Reform Act merged the eight regional police forces into a single nationwide organ- isation and did the same with the regional fire services. Five years on from the establishment of the national services, Holyrood’s Justice Committee will examine whether the original aims of the act have been met. These include protecting and improving services and not cutting the front line, equalising access to specialist support, such as firearms teams or flood rescue, and strengthening the connection between services and communities.

Committee convener Margaret Mitchell said: “The last five years have been a period of unprecedented change in our fire and police services. While undoubtedly there are examples of resilience and partnership working, there have also been some problem areas identified since the mergers. In particular, the committee is keen to establish whether the issues faced by the services are teething problems or whether legislative changes are needed.”

Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, the interim chief constable, said: “We need to move forward with a degree of humility, a commitment to openness and a greater willingness to engage with the people we serve so they better understand how we police and why we take the decisions we need to take.”

Susan Deacon, chairwoman of the Scottish Police Authority, added: “There is much still to be done to deliver the benefits of reform and many lessons to be learned. There a need to work both within policing and across the wider public sector to ensure that services work more collaboratively to meet changing needs and demands.”

A Scottish Government spokes-woman said: “The single services have provided national specialist capabilities that would not have been possible in the past, allowing us to respond more effectively to the evolving challenges of keeping people safe in a modern Scotland.

“Ministers recognise a change of such scale and significance as the formation of Police Scotland and the SFRS was always likely to present challenges but the independent eval-uation of reform – published in February – is clear about the benefits.”