Question reference: S6W-25760
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 26 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Natalie Don on 13 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to prevent the misuse or mishandling of disclosure information that could potentially harm children and young people.
Answer
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
Higher level disclosures, those that can include the most sensitive information, can only be provided to organisations registered with Disclosure Scotland. Such organisations can register with Disclosure Scotland because they are legally entitled to request higher level disclosures. There are offences contained in disclosure legislation to prevent against disclosures being requested or used where there is no legal entitlement to do so.
Disclosure Scotland's Code of Practice is published by Scottish Ministers and details the legal obligations that organisations registered with Disclosure Scotland must comply with. This includes provision of information when registering with Disclosure Scotland to ensure that the person receiving disclosure information is suitable to do so and requirements on handling disclosure information.
Disclosure Scotland can carry out assurance and audit checks in relation to organisations registered to receive disclosure information and regularly do outreach to support organisations in meeting their responsibilities around handling disclosure information.