Better Regulation Review Gives SIA Thumbs Up

The chief executive of the SIA, Bill Butler, has given a positive welcome to the findings of a review carried out by the UK regulation watchdog Better Regulation. Their review into the SIA gave a broadly positive impression of the work that the SIA are doing, finding above all that the body’s work has led to a reduction in criminality in the security industry – one of the key remits of the authority. Although the reviews findings were uniformly positive, Butler did take care to acknowledge that work remains for the SIA to do to ensure that the security industry runs as smoothly as it can and does everything possible to improve its performance as a regulatory body.

The overall finding of the review was that the SIA has made significant progress in its duties and is seeking to prioritise better regulation principles at a time when security is more of a key issue than ever before. Communication with stakeholders has improved; additionally the work of the Approved Contractor Scheme has seen to it that standards have been raised industry-wide and that the organizations which are taking a lead in terms of good practice have furthered their work by collaborating with others. Finally, the review found that the SIA has demonstrated that it understands the importance of ensuring that it works with businesses to deliver compliance with the requirements of the industry.

Although the review did not find much wrong with how the SIA is operating, it did offer some touchstone issues where the SIA could be more effective. Among these were a suggestion that the body could improve performance still further by involving risk assessment more in matters of strategic planning as well as by improving customer focus. It was felt that the SIA could see to it that those changes were made reasonably easily, being in a strong position within its industry. This report comes in a week when the SIA carried out a five-day check on construction sites in Glasgow, finding that on 35 sites there were 52 security guards working for a total of eleven different companies. Of those investigated, fifty-one guards were found to hold valid licences, and only one was unlicensed. Two were reported for not displaying their licences, but found to be licensed.

The findings in Glasgow are significant, as the Chief Superintendent for the area expounded. Saying that the organised crime underworld in Glasgow seeks to exploit the security sector, he added that many security companies operating in the area are owned and managed by members of organised crime groups. In order to deal with the problem of organised crime seriously, it is important that its influence in a sector where it seeks to gain legitimacy is limited. This is behind much of what the SIA does in Scotland and beyond, and is one of the major reasons for its foundation. Organised crime groups tend to pay minimum wages and employ unqualified and unchecked foreign nationals – so attacking them on one of their stronger grounds is a major element in what the SIA does.