SCOTLAND’S chief constable has ordered a review to establish if enough is being done to encourage whistleblowers within the single police force to come forward.

Appearing before Holyrood’s justice committee for the first time, Philip Gormley said he would not rule out the possibility of an ethics committee or third-party reporting mechanism being established for staff who felt their concerns would not be properly dealt with by Police Scotland internally.

He had been invited to appear at the Scottish Parliament as an upshot of Police Scotland breaking the rules on intercepting communications to try to identify journalists’ sources.

MSPs have heard from the Scottish Police Federation that the unit “largely acted with impunity and with scant regard for the rules of fairness or proportionality”.

Gormley said a “comprehensive piece of work” had been commissioned, and said he wanted to assess if the current approach developed a culture where staff were prepared to come forward with concerns.

Andrew Flanagan, chair of the Scottish Police Authority, the force’s civilian overseers, suggested that use of the current whistleblowing process was too low for Police Scotland’s size.

MSPs were told that 133 referrals had been made in the last year through an internal confidential reporting system known as “Integrity Matters”. Of these, 29 of centred on issues of potential criminality.

Gormley, former deputy director general of the National Crime Agency, said: “We have a range of SOPs [standard operating procedures] that touch on our support staff and officers who have issues, either in terms of their own personal position or issues of cause of concern.

“Whilst those in themselves are perfectly respectable and I think fit for purpose in large part, what I have done in terms of looking at this is think through: do they add up in totality to a position where we are developing a culture that enables staff to step forward with confidence?

“What I’ve asked for and commissioned is a review that really looks at and understands the culture within the service and the key issues and dilemmas faced by staff, plus looks outside of our organisation at best practice, whether that is international, in the business world, law enforcement or third sector.”

Flanagan said the increase in the number of referrals since the current system came into force last March was “encouraging”.

However, he added: “I have to say, though, that out of a workforce of 22,000, I’m not sure 133 necessarily reflects success.”

He said an alternative system outwith the single force was needed for instances where complaints related to those working in units traditionally tasked with investigating them –

Police Scotland’s professional standards department and its counter corruption unit.

He suggested the scope of the current whistleblowing policy was too narrow and more work was needed to embed it.

“If you walk into any police office you will see the Integrity Matters posters up on the wall encouraging people to do it but they don’t have the phone number on it. That’s a simple thing that shouldn’t happen,” he said.

Gormley was invited to give evidence last month on internal communications at Police Scotland and on its “policies and procedures in relation to the protection of staff who report wrongdoing or malpractice within the organisation”.

That came after three serving officers at the centre of breaches identified by the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office (IOCCO) declined invitations to give evidence at Holyrood. IOCCO confirmed in November that the single force had breached the watchdog’s code of practice on five occasions

.