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Iain Livingstone has been confirmed as the new chief constable of Police Scotland.

Mr Livingstone had been in interim charge of the national force, which is the second biggest in the UK, since last autumn.

He stepped in while the previous chief constable, Phil Gormley, was being investigated over allegations of gross misconduct.

Mr Gormley quit in February despite continuing to deny any wrongdoing.

Mr Livingstone will formally take up the post on 27 August, and will have a salary of £216,549.

He will be responsible for leading Police Scotland's 22,000 officers and civilian staff. The force has an annual budget of more than £1bn.

Mr Livingstone has been a deputy chief constable since Police Scotland was formed in 2013 having previously served with the Lothian and Borders force, where he was head of CID.

He said he was "extremely proud and humbled" to be appointed to the top job on a permanent basis, and that "policing has been my life and the demands on it are developing faster today than at any time in my career."

Mr Livingstone added: "It is my job now to lead and drive change in policing to adapt to those challenges and to build on the values, ethos and traditions of policing in Scotland that first attracted me to this profession 26-years ago."

Mr Livingstone graduated in law from the Universities of Aberdeen and Strathclyde, working as a solicitor in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London before joining the police in 1992.

His career has included external attachments to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland as a special investigator, to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary as a member of Lord Bonomy's review of corroboration, and he currently sits on the Scottish Sentencing Council.

He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in May 2015, and had been widely regarded as the frontrunner for the chief constable job.

But he has been at the centre of controversy in the past, with a female officer accusing him of sexually assaulting her at the Tulliallan police college in 2000.

Mr Livingstone was suspended by the force before later admitting he had acted inappropriately by falling asleep in the woman's room, although he was cleared of any sexual misconduct.

Mr Livingstone was initially demoted from superintendent to constable before being reinstated after an appeal.

He told the Â鶹ԼÅÄ earlier this year that he had too much to drink at a social event at the college, and had fallen asleep "in the wrong place", adding: "That was wrong, I shouldn't have done that".

Mr Livingstone was one of three candidates who were put through a series of tests and interviews by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) over a six week period.

The process included a personality and psychometric evaluation conducted by a senior independent occupational psychologist.

SPA chairwoman Susan Deacon described Mr Livingstone as an "outstanding police leader who has made an exceptional contribution to policing in Scotland".

The appointment was welcomed by Scotland's justice secretary, Humza Yousaf, who said Mr Livingstone had "demonstrated he has the right qualities to lead Police Scotland as the service continues to enhance its ability to tackle crime and keep people safe."