Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any delays in the granting of a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) certificate from Disclosure Scotland, and what percentage of applications currently meet the 14-day service level agreement.
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
As of the week commencing 15 September, 94.9% of PVG applications were completed within 14 days. This meets the service level agreement of 90% completed within 14 days, with average processing times for PVG applications at 7.5 days.
Between April and August 2025, Disclosure Scotland experienced a significant rise in applications and customer enquiries following the implementation of the Disclosure Act and new digital functionality. To manage this, we temporarily onboarded agency staff to help reduce processing times, increase processing capacity and improve customer service levels.
A proportion of disclosure applications naturally take longer than 14 days where Disclosure Scotland are awaiting information from third parties in the vetting process. This is why the target is 90%, to allow for these delays which are caused by additional safeguarding enquires with third party agencies or to establish identity with certainty. The application surge meant that a higher volume of applications than normal required this step. Disclosure Scotland has improved communication with third-party organisations involved in the vetting process to expedite the return of required information and we continue to work closely with our partners to minimise delays.
Disclosure Scotland will also be improving our website and social media communications to provide regular updates to applicants and stakeholders regarding expected timescales, to improve transparency and manage expectations.