Chamber and committees

Non-disclosure Agreements

Letter from the Convener, Criminal Justice Committee to Police Scotland, 17 February 2022

Dear DCC Graham,

Thank you for your letter of 28 January 2022.

In your letter you provide information on Police Scotland’s use of non-disclosure agreements. It would be appreciated, if you could please provide some further information on this issue.

In the Committee’s letter of 21 December 2021, we asked for details of ‘Police Scotland’s procedures for the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for police officers and staff and members of the public. This should include confirmation of whether Police Scotland has used NDAs for complaints of sexual discrimination, victimisation or harassment, as well as the oversight and authority arrangements for the use of these agreements.’

In your response, you indicate that ‘Police Scotland does not routinely enter into Non-disclosure Agreements and has never entered into any Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for the purposes of preventing whistleblowing relative to sexual discrimination, victimisation or harassment. Indeed, Police Scotland specifically excludes whistleblowing from being enshrined in any NDA it is party to.’

Could you please provide the information requested, which seeks information on Police Scotland’s use of NDAs in response to a complaint having been made, and not their use to prevent a whistle-blower from making a complaint.

In your letter, you refer to the number of cases settled in the previous three financial years, where Police Scotland has entered into NDAs. You indicate that it is 1.7% of the cases settled. Could you please confirm how many cases this figure represents, how many relate to complaints of sexual discrimination, victimisation or harassment, and how many cases in the last three financial years were closed with no further action taken.

The Committee understands that on 13 December 2021, the Scottish Police Authority’s Legal Committee considered a report in private from Police Scotland on its use of non-disclosure agreements. After that meeting a request was made to Police Scotland to provide a copy of that report for the Committee’s consideration and to assist it in its scrutiny of this issue.

Police Scotland confirmed that the paper was presented within a private session of the SPA’s Legal Authority Committee meeting and as such is not available in the public domain. The Committee would be grateful if you would be able to provide a copy of the paper.

I look forward to your response.

Best wishes,

Audrey Nicoll MSP
Convener, Criminal Justice Committee