Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 6 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many disclosure checks for Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) certificates have taken longer than eight weeks to process in the current year.
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
From 1 January to 19 October 2025 inclusive, there were 34 Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) application results where the processing time took longer than eight weeks.
Note 1: Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications from 1 April 2025 onwards, with the implementation of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, represents: Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Join), Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Existing), Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Join) and Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Existing). Prior to 1 April 2025, PVG applications represents: Scheme Record Disclosure, Short Scheme Record Disclosure, Existing Scheme Record Disclosure and Statements of Scheme Membership.
Note 2: This figure relates to PVG applications completed between 1 January and 19 October 2025 inclusive, with a processing time greater than 56 days.
Note 3: The processing time for a completed application incorporates all time between an application being received by Disclosure Scotland, through to completion with a disclosure issued to the applicant. Disclosure Scotland deducts any time which the application was suspended on our system, such as being suspended for customer contact. Weekend days are included in the number of processing days for applications, but national holidays and Scottish Government public and privilege holidays are excluded.