Office of Public Sector Information
150.Disclosure Scotland was staffed in part by employees from Strathclyde Joint Police Board until 1 October 2007, when they transferred to the Scottish Administration. (The remaining staff were, and continue to be, contractors for BT plc.) This section sets out the arrangements for that transfer and enables the Scottish Ministers to make a "staff transfer order" to effect it. This section could be used to transfer other staff of the Strathclyde Joint Police Board (other than constables) but there is no intention to do so.
151.Subsections (4) to (9) concern employees of Strathclyde Joint Police Board who are subject to a staff transfer order. Subsections (4) to (6) provide that contract rights and obligations transfer from the former employer to the Scottish Ministers on the transfer date. Subsection (7) provides that employed staff may object in advance of their contract being transferred to the Scottish Ministers, in which case their contract is terminated at the end of the day before the intended transfer day. This termination will not be treated as dismissal of a person. Subsection (8) provides that an employee can terminate their contract of employment if they can show that a substantial detrimental change has been made to their working conditions.
152.Previously, it had been intended that Disclosure Scotland staff would transfer to the Scottish Police Services Authority on 1 April 2007, together with the remainder of the Scottish Criminal Records Office. Paragraph 46 of schedule 4 repeals the provisions in the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 that would have transferred the Scottish Ministers’ functions under Part 5 of the Police Act (the functions carried out by Disclosure Scotland) to the Authority.
153.The power provided in section 87(1) can be used to make provision, including amendments to devolved legislation, to ensure that the equivalent scheme for England and Wales functions properly. Given the complexities of this Act and the SVG Act, it may be necessary to make some provision as the schemes develop.
154.The power included in section 87(2) provides Scottish Ministers with a similar power in respect of any future legislation establishing a similar scheme in Northern Ireland. The Scottish Ministers will be able to make provision responding to any legislation in Northern Ireland, that corresponds with this Act, in the same way that they can in respect of the SVG Act.
155.Section 88 introduces schedule 4 which makes modifies other Acts in consequence of this Act.
156.Where an offence under the Act is committed by an organisation, this section provides that the organisation and, in some cases, a senior individual in that organisation are both to be held responsible. On the whole, the more junior member of staff whose conduct may have given rise to the offence is not criminally liable. The member of staff may still be disciplined by the organisation and, if one of the referral grounds at section 2 is met, he or she can be referred for consideration for listing.
157.This section binds the Crown as is normal practice for Acts of the Scottish Parliament. The Crown will not, however, be held criminally liable for any contravention of a provision of the Act but, in such circumstances, application may be made to the Court of Session concerning the contravention. Section 90(5) provides that the provisions of the Act apply to civil servants in the same way as they apply to other persons.
158.Section 91 introduces schedules 2 and 3 which define regulated work with children and regulated work with adults, respectively. Schedule 2 to this Act supercedes schedule 2 to PoCSA; regulated work with children corresponds to “child care position” in that Act, although there are significant differences between the two.
159.There is a difference between being listed and being barred. Being listed means being included in the children’s or adults’ list. Being barred from regulated work in Scotland is a consequence of being listed, included in certain other lists in the UK or subject to a prohibition or disqualification in any other jurisdiction which the Scottish Ministers deem to correspond to being listed.
160.Subsections (1) and (2) mean that being included in the equivalent list in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, will result in being barred from regulated work with children and adults, respectively, in Scotland. Subsections (3) and (4) give the Scottish Ministers an order-making power to regard any other list abroad as being equivalent to a Scottish list and therefore leading to being barred from regulated work in Scotland. Subsections (5) and (6) make allowance for developments in England and Wales or Northern Ireland and enable the lists in subsections (1) and (2) to be updated accordingly.
161.The effect of section 92 is that a teacher working in England who is referred to the IBB (established under the SVG Act) and included on their children’s barred list would be listed in England and Wales and barred from regulated work with children in Scotland and equivalent work across the UK. Although barred, the individual will not be listed in Scotland; it is expected that the IBB will retain that information and provide it to Scottish police forces and the Vetting and Disclosure Unit as necessary.
162.This is discussed in the context of referral grounds under section 2 at paragraph 18 of these Notes.
163.Section 94 defines a “protected adult” for the purposes of the Act. A protected adult is defined as an individual aged 16 or over who is provided with (and thus receives) a type of care, support or welfare service as set out in this section. This definition of protected adult supersedes the definition of “adult at risk” at regulation 10(3) of the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 for the purposes of eligibility for enhanced disclosure. To be classified as an adult at risk under those regulations, an individual has to meet three criteria: having a condition, in consequence of which they have a disability and receive a care service, all of which are set out in regulation 10. Section 94 replaces these 3 criteria with a test linked to the type of services being received by the individual. Individuals doing regulated work with protected adults (see the explanation of schedule 3 at paragraph 202 of these Notes) will no longer be eligible for enhanced disclosure but will be able to request disclosures under this Act.
164.Section 94(1)(b) allows for the Scottish Ministers to prescribe healthcare related services, whether provided by the NHS or by private suppliers. Section 94(1)(d) gives the Scottish Ministers the power to prescribe welfare services, receipt of which makes an individual a protected adult. Section 94(5) sets out that a welfare service includes any service which provides support, assistance, advice, or counselling to individuals with particular needs. The Scottish Ministers intend to make regulations prescribing welfare services to capture appropriate services provided by the voluntary sector. Section 94(2) gives the Scottish Ministers an order-making power to amend the definition of “protected adult” in subsection (1).
165.The equivalent term in the SVG Act is “vulnerable adult” and applies to persons who are 18 years of age or over.
166.Section 95 defines the meaning of work, of which regulated work is a subset defined through section 91 and schedules 2 and 3. Section 95(1) clarifies that work includes paid or unpaid work and other types of work. For the purposes of this Act, being a foster carer is regarded as work. But work does not come within the scope of the Act if it is done for an individual in the course of a family relationship or in the course of a personal relationship for no commercial consideration. This means that a mother employing her brother to look after her child (a family relationship) does not constitute work for the purposes of this Act, whether or not she pays her brother. However, a mother employing a friend to look after her child would not constitute work if there was no payment but, if the friend received payment, it would constitute work. In this latter case, therefore, it would be an offence for a barred individual to accept payment from the mother for babysitting (because it is regulated work) but not for the mother (because she is a personal employer) to employ the barred individual.
167.Section 95(9) provides the Scottish Ministers with the power to prescribe which types of work should and should not be considered work done in the course of a family or personal relationship. The Scottish Ministers may use this power to ensure consistency with: other legislation which defines family relationships; and the SVG Act, which contains a similar power.
168.Section 96 sets out what constitutes “foster carer” for the purposes of the Act. Subsection (1) defines foster carer under the Act to cover:
Public fostering arranged by councils under section 26(1)(a) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. This would cover many foster care placements and also include the situation where a looked after child is placed by the council with a relative or friend, even though that individual is not a career foster carer. It would thereby include some kinship care scenarios.
Private fostering under the Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984. This covers the situation where a parent or guardian places a child in the care of another person who is not a close relative for more than 28 days. Parents have a duty to report the arrangement to the relevant council who must inspect and monitor the accommodation and other aspects of the arrangements, but the parent or guardian assesses and approves the carers.
Those looking after a child in pursuance of a permanence order (see paragraphs 170 to 172 below).
Those looking after a child under a supervision requirement (see paragraph 173 below).
169.Subsection (2) deems who the ‘employer’ of the foster carer is considered to be, which is significant in terms of entitlement to disclosure records. For public fostering, the employer is deemed to be the council or voluntary agency who made the arrangements; for permanence orders and supervision requirements the employer is deemed to be the council; and for private fostering it is the person who made the fostering arrangements and has the power to terminate those arrangements. Subsection (3) disapplies the offences in sections 34 to 37 of the Act in relation to work as a foster carer under a permanence order or a supervision requirement.
170.Subsection (5) provides that section 3 (referral following disciplinary action) will apply to foster carers and ‘dismissing an individual’ in employment situations should be read as ‘terminating the fostering arrangements’ in the context of fostering.
171.Subsection (1) includes an individual who looks after children in pursuance of permanence orders, created by the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, within the definition of foster carer. These orders can only be applied for by a council and are granted by a court. The order consists of:
the mandatory provision, whereby the right to regulate the child’s residence and the responsibility to provide guidance to the child are vested in the council;
the ancillary provisions, whereby other parental responsibilities and rights (PRRs) in respect of the child (as set out in sections 1 and 2 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) may be vested in the council or any other person or persons as the court considers appropriate. Ancillary provisions may also take these PRRs away from the birth parents; and
if appropriate, provision granting authority for the child to be adopted.
172.Since the child remains a looked after child and the responsibility for his or her care rests ultimately with the council, any carer of a child on a permanence order is regarded as doing regulated work so that disclosure records can be obtained and the carer is subject to continuous vetting. This will apply whether or not the carer is a relative or friend. The council is treated as an employer of the foster carer in this context.
173.The offences in sections 34 to 37 of the Act do not apply to carers of children on a permanence order, so that an administrative decision by the Central Barring Unit (on behalf of Scottish Ministers) cannot override a court decision made in the best interests of the child, by listing an individual who also happens to be the foster carer of a child on a permanence order. This is to avoid the individual and the council committing a serious offence by following the order of the court and allowing the child to remain with the individual beyond the date of the listing decision.
174.An individual who looks after a child in pursuance of a supervision requirement, which cover other types of foster care arrangement, is also brought within the definition of foster carer. For the duration of the requirement, the child is a looked after child (in terms of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) and the foster carer should be regarded as doing regulated work. This allows disclosure records to be obtained and continuous vetting of the carer. This applies whether or not the carer is a relative or friend.
175.Subsection (4) disapplies subsections (2) to (7) of section 95 of the Act (meaning of work). These subsections in section 95 concern ‘work’ done in the course of family or personal relationships which are excluded from the generality of work in section 95. Subsection (4) prevents any foster care relationships being excluded from regulated work by being interpreted as family or personal relationships. Section 95(9) could be used to specify in greater detail the boundary of what constitutes work in terms of family and personal relationships, if this proves necessary.
176.Subsection (8) imports into this section the meanings of “parental responsibilities”, “parental rights”, “permanence order” and “supervision requirement” as defined in the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, as appropriate.
177.Section 97 makes provision for general interpretation. Some of these terms were highlighted at paragraph 3 of these Notes. Some terms which appeared in PoCSA have changed their meaning, e.g. “harm” which is defined at section 93 and discussed at paragraph 18 of these Notes.
178.Section 98 provides the Scottish Ministers with the power to make supplementary, incidental, consequential, transitional, transitory or saving provision for the purposes of, or in connection with, or for the purposes of giving full effect to, any provision of this Act. This may include modifying any enactment, instrument or document.
179.This section clarifies, for example, that the Act does not affect the police’s common-law powers to disclose information for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime.
180.Subsection (3) provides that orders and regulations are to be made by negative resolution procedure except for those listed in subsection (4). Subsection (4) provides that the following matters require affirmative procedure:
criteria leading to automatic listing, as set out in section 14;
amending schedule 1 to modify the list of "relevant offences";
organisations required to remove barred individuals from regulated work in section 35;
some powers to modify the provisions of this Act or any other enactment, as given at section 87 or 98;
any change to the meaning of "protected adult" in section 94; and
any modification to the definition of regulated work with children or regulated work with adults using the order making powers in schedules 2 and 3 respectively.
181.Section 101 provides flexibility for the Scottish Ministers to commence the various provisions of the Act at different times. Subsection (3) makes clear that the Scottish Ministers could bring the provisions into force on an area by area basis.
182.Schedule 1 lists those offences for which the court must refer an individual for consideration for inclusion in the children’s list, following conviction (as provided for in section 7(1) and 11(2)). It replicates schedule 1 of PoCSA, updated to include new offences created by the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 and other offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000.
183.Schedule 2 defines regulated work with children for the purposes of this Act. It supersedes the definition of child care position in schedule 2 to PoCSA, which is repealed by paragraph 42 of schedule 4.
184.“Work” is defined (in section 95) very broadly as “work of any kind” and specifically includes paid and unpaid work, work under a contract, carrying out statutory functions and caring for or supervising individuals participating in any organised activity. Regulated work in the schedules is therefore a subset of work generally. Work does not cover certain things done in the course of a family or personal relationship, which if done in other contexts, would constitute work.
185.Paragraph 1 applies the “normal duties test” to the activities set out in Part 2 and the positions set out in Part 3. The concept of “normal duties” is extremely important in limiting the scope of Parts 2 and 3. Normal duties can be considered as something the individual might be expected to do as part of their post on an ongoing basis, for example appearing in a job description. Normal duties excludes one-off occurrences and unforeseeable events. No particular frequency for undertaking the work or duration of work are specified in the Act as these will depend on the context. For example, the specific plumber identified in a building firm as the individual who always does work on school premises because he has specialist knowledge of the central heating systems would be regarded as having that function as part of his “normal duties”, even if actual callouts occur quite infrequently. But a random plumber called in to a school for one emergency in respect of whom no prior arrangements had been made would not be regarded as working in a school as part of his “normal duties”.
186.Part 4 explicitly identifies a number of positions which fall within the definition of regulated work with children; these are not qualified by any normal duties test.
187.Paragraph 2 applies exceptions relating to children's employment and work to activities identified in paragraphs 3 to 7. Paragraph 2(a) excludes from regulated work all activities in paragraphs 3 to 7 carried out in relation to children aged 16 or 17 in the course of the children's work. This means, for example, that a shop manager recruiting or supervising children aged 16 or 17 as assistants (whether as employees or volunteers) is not within the scope of regulated work with children.
188.Paragraph 2(b) extends the exclusion from regulated work to work with children under the age of 16 in the course of the children’s employment for being in sole charge of children (paragraph 5) and unsupervised contact with children (paragraph 6). “Employment” is defined in section 97. Employment means paid employment whether under a contract of service or apprenticeship or under a contract for services. Work is much wider than employment in the Act (see paragraph 164). This paragraph means that a shopkeeper employing a 14 year-old to do a paper round is outside the scope of regulated work but a scout leader supervising a group of 14-year-old scouts calling door-to-door to do odd jobs for money is within the scope of regulated work.
189.Paragraphs 3 and 4 identify those instances in which an individual is or is not undertaking regulated work with children when caring for children or training, instructing, teaching or supervising children. They are qualified with an incidental test which narrows the scope of regulated work to exclude activities which are aimed at adults but incidentally include children. For example, a teacher in a school is doing regulated work with children by virtue of paragraph 4 (and possibly others) but a college lecturer running woodwork classes in the evening aimed at adults is outside the scope of regulated work even if one or two children attend his class.
190.Paragraph 5 makes provision bringing individuals whose normal duties involve being in sole charge of children within the scope of regulated work. This paragraph would include a contracted taxi or minibus driver taking children to school or classes.
191.Paragraph 6 includes unsupervised contact with children within the scope of regulated work. Paragraph 5(b)(iii) exempts from unsupervised contact any contact with the child supervised by a person who has agreed to do so with the child’s parent, guardian or any other adult with whom the child lives. The responsible person is the parent, guardian or adult resident and they must have agreed to the supervision of the contact by the friend or relative.
192.For example, suppose a voluntary organisation organises a pantomime trip by coach involving the organiser, adult A and the coach driver, adult B. If 30 children come along, 28 accompanied by a parent but two come unaccompanied, paragraph 5(b)(iii) provides where the parents of those two children to agree to nominate another person (perhaps another parent on the trip) to supervise their children in respect of contact with adults A and B that contact would not be unsupervised. This provision puts beyond doubt that no-one on the trip is doing regulated work with children, so long a each child is supervised either by a responsible person or by someone nominated by the responsible person for that child.
193.Family relationship and personal relationship, as used in paragraph 6, have the same meanings as in section 95 (meaning of "work") which insures consistency of interpretation in paragraph 6 and section 95.
194.Paragraph 7 covers positions such as workers on telephone advice lines and children’s magazine agony aunts. The provision does not cover general broadcasting to children, such as children’s television or radio programmes. The words in parentheses narrow the scope of providing advice and guidance to children so as to exclude from regulated work those instances where advice or guidance is given to children which is incidental to the provision of advice and guidance to individuals who are not children, mirroring the exceptions in paragraphs 3 and 4. Advice or guidance in relation to spiritual matters or spiritual well-being is considered to be captured by advice on emotional well-being and so within the scope of paragraph 7.
195.Paragraph 8 covers positions such as those involved in moderating Internet chat rooms intended for use by children where the individual has a role in protecting those children from harm. It does not cover incidental use by children of chat rooms intended for use by adults. It does not cover staff involved in maintaining and supporting such services whose function is not related to child protection, e.g. engineers.
196.Paragraphs 9 and 10 make provision for care home services and independent healthcare services for children, as defined in ROCA. These definitions are qualified to limit the positions covered to those involving contact with children. A cleaner, for example, in the head office of an organisation providing care home services would not be regarded as doing regulated work with children.
197.Part 3 brings into the scope of regulated work with children all those whose normal duties involve working in establishments where children are being detained, treated, educated or looked after. The normal duties test applies but note that it does not matter what type of work the individual is doing in the establishment; the provision covers cleaners, gardeners, cooks etc as well as any individual involved in front-line care. There is no qualification by time of day, contact with children or purpose so a post is not exempt from this provision by virtue of being “after hours” or for a purpose unrelated to the purpose(s) of the establishment.
198.Paragraphs 12 and 13 bring within the scope of regulated work with children anyone whose normal duties include working in a children's detention institution or children's hospital. Paragraph 14 brings within scope anyone whose normal duties include working in a school. Paragraph 15 covers further education institutions and provides the Scottish Ministers with the power to adjust the scope of further education institutions in the event of changes in the organisation of that sector. Paragraph 16 covers hostels for school pupils or those attending further education institutions. Paragraph 17 covers children's homes provided by councils, including residential accommodation for persons with mental disorder.
199.Paragraphs 18 to 27 make provision to cover specific positions which might not otherwise be caught by provision in Parts 2 and 3. These are positions which, by their very nature, put the post-holder in a position of power and trust in respect of children and those who work with children and could enable the post-holder to demand access to children or sensitive information about them. Additionally, some of these positions give the post-holder the power to influence or determine recruitment decisions or organisational policy and practice. A post-holder of a position included in Part 4 is doing regulated work with children without exception (i.e. there is no normal duties test and it is immaterial whether or not the post-holder is or is not covered by any other provision).
200.In particular, paragraph 26 brings foster carers (as defined by section 96) within the scope of regulated work with children.
201.Paragraph 27 brings charity trustees of children's charity to the scope of regulated work with children. A charity whose main purpose is to provide benefits for children is a children's charity for the purposes of this Act (paragraph 27(b)). Additionally, a charity is a children’s charity if its workers normally include persons doing regulated work and those workers are working under arrangements made for purposes which are not incidental to (i.e. which are for) the purposes for which the charity is established (paragraph 27(a)). Therefore, whether a charity is a children’s charity by virtue of paragraph 27(a) is dependent on the scope of the other provisions of schedule 2.
202.Consider, for example, the trustees of Higher Education Institutions with charitable status. To determine whether they fall within the scope of regulated work with children, a two step process needs to be followed. The first step is to identify which of the charity’s workers are doing regulated work. Having identified that there will be some doing regulated work (e.g. first year tutors with classes dominated by under-18’s), the second step is to determine whether those workers are working under arrangements incidental to the purposes for which the charity was established. As an HEI is established to provide education, those workers doing regulated work with children by virtue of teaching children are doing so for the primary purpose for which the charity is established. Therefore, charity trustees of Higher Education Institutions do fall within the scope of regulated work with children.
203.Paragraph 28 permits the Scottish Ministers to amend schedule 2 by order subject to affirmative procedure. Paragraph 29 clarifies that Ministers’ power to make orders under paragraph 28 to modify this schedule, can include provision to disapply or otherwise modify the application of the offence provisions in sections 34 to 37 of the Act. Consequently, Ministers have the power to include new types of work within the scope of regulated work, or modify existing types of regulated work and, in addition, provide that the offences at sections 34 to 37 do not apply to certain types of regulated work or that the offences only apply in a modified way.
204.Therefore, Ministers could create classes of regulated work where the individual is subject to continuous vetting and disclosure records can be obtained but where the individual and / or the employer do not commit an offence if the individual is barred. This power could be used, for example to identify types of foster care not covered by section 96.
205.Schedule 3 of the Act defines “regulated work with adults” and should be read in conjunction with the definition of protected adult at section 94, explained at paragraph 162 of these Notes. This replaces and expands the definition in regulation 10(2) of the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 for the purposes of eligibility for enhanced disclosure. The criteria in those Regulations is that the individual is working in a “ position... of a kind which enables[them] in the course of his or her duties to have contact with an adult at risk”. Schedule 3 is directed at identifying those in the adult work force who should be scheme members due to the degree of contact they may have with protected adults or otherwise.
206.Part 1 sets out that it covers work in:
a position whose normal duties include carrying out an activity mentioned in Part 2 or (if not already covered by Part 2) work in an establishment mentioned in Part 3;
a position whose normal duties include the day to day supervision or management of an individual working in one (or more) of the above positions; and
a position mentioned in Part 4.
207.These are certain types of activity carried out by individuals in the course of performing their normal duties (e.g. caring, teaching, supervising, advising and guiding etc.), or carried out where the performance of an individual’s duties in particular establishments (e.g. care homes) permits or requires them to have contact with protected adults. Paragraphs 2 and 6 qualify the scope of regulated work with adults by excluding these activities where they are done with children only and the presence of protected adults is merely incidental. This would prevent, for example, teaching at a secondary school becoming regulated work with adults merely because a few of the sixth year students were receiving care services.
208.Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 qualify the scope of regulated work with adults by excluding these activities where they are merely incidental to carrying out the same activity in relation to other individuals who are not protected adults.
209.These are places in which individuals will do regulated work by virtue of performing their normal duties in a place providing accommodation for adults. Paragraph 8 clarifies the meaning of a care home by reference to the accommodation being occupied mainly or exclusively by adults in order to distinguish this from accommodation which is provided mainly for children.
210.These are individuals whose positions of management responsibility, trusteeship of a charity, or membership of a Council Committee whose functions concern the provision of education, accommodation, social services or health services to protected adults, mean they will undertake regulated work.
211.Paragraph 13 permits the Scottish Ministers to amend schedule 3 by order subject to affirmative procedure. Paragraph 14 clarifies that Ministers’ power to make orders under paragraph 13 to modify this schedule, can include provision to disapply or otherwise modify the application of the offence provisions in sections 34 to 37 of the Act. These paragraphs mirror provision at paragraphs 28 and 29 of schedule 2.
212.This schedule is introduced by section 88. It makes amendments to the Teaching Council (Scotland) Act 1965, the Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984, the Criminal Procedure Act and Police Act. Importantly, PoCSA is largely repealed.
213.Paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 allow the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) to investigate convictions and misconduct relating to individuals who have applied to be registered as teachers. They allow the GTCS to regulate trainee teachers in the same way as registered teachers, monitoring and considering their suitability to work as a teacher.
214.Paragraph 2 reflects the replacement of DWCL established by PoCSA with the children's list established by this Act.
215.Paragraphs 5 to 8 amend the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to reflect the replacement of DWCL established by PoCSA with the children's list established by this Act.
216.Paragraphs 9 to 12 make consequential amendments to sections 7, 15 and 21 of the Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984. These make it an offence for a person, who lives in the same premises as a barred person, to foster a child. A defence is provided where the person proves that he or she did not know, or had no reasonable grounds for believing, that any other person in the premises was barred.
217.Paragraphs 13 to 26 make amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act consequential upon the repeal of PoCSA (effected by paragraph 42). These provisions in the Criminal Procedure Act were inserted by PoCSA and make provision relating to appeals against a court’s decision to refer an individual to the Scottish Ministers for listing. The Act has changed the court’s powers and duties to make such referrals. In addition the Scottish Ministers are also no longer obliged to list a person who is the subject of a court referral but at most to consider whether it is appropriate to list them. An appeal against any subsequent listing decision is provided for by section 21 or 22 of the Act. Consequently these provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act are no longer required.
218.Paragraph 27 identifies the following paragraphs as amending Part 5 of the Police Act. Paragraph 28 allows the Scottish Ministers to withhold a standard or enhanced disclosure certificate under Part 5 if a scheme record disclosure could be obtained. Individuals seeking disclosure to do regulated work should be requesting disclosure records under this Act and not certificates under the Police Act.
219.Paragraphs 29, 30, 31, 32 and 35 make a number of technical changes to Part 5 of the Police Act to allow for information about barred status (in terms of this Act) to be included on enhanced disclosure certificates in the few situations where it would not be appropriate for those individuals to become scheme members, but it is right that, as well as conviction information, the employer receives information about barred status, for example, where somebody is applying to adopt a child.
220.Paragraphs 31 and 32 (and paragraph 41) also make provision for Crown work in the Police Act, mirroring section 56 of this Act.
221.Paragraph 33 makes amendments to section 117 of the Police Act which brings the provision for correcting an inaccurate disclosure in line with provision at section 51 of this Act.
222.Paragraph 34 makes amendments to section 118 of the Police Act which correspond to that made at section 63 of this Act in respect of use of fingerprints and updates the reference to the Identity and Passport Service (as at section 64 of this Act).
223.Paragraphs 36 and 39 make consequential amendments to provision in the Police Act for registered persons. These paragraphs supplement references to countersigning applications for standard or enhanced disclosure with references to making declarations in relation to disclosure requests for scheme record disclosure or short scheme record disclosure.
224.Paragraph 37 is a consequential amendment which updates references to some of the sources of information that will be checked when an assessment is being made about the suitability of an individual to become, or continue to be, a registered person under Part 5 of the Police Act. The existing references which are to the English lists and the DWCL (under PoCSA) are replaced with a reference to being barred under this Act.
225.Paragraphs 38 and 40 make provision for the Scottish Ministers to delegate their functions under Part 5 of the Police Act in the same way as section 74 of this Act makes provision for delegation of vetting and disclosure functions under this Act. Section 122B of the Police Act, exercised together with section 74 of this Act, would enable all types of disclosure to be contracted out to a third party.
226.Paragraph 42 substantively repeals PoCSA.
227.Paragraph 43 repeals section 24(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 2004 which made amendments to section 10 of PoCSA which is to be repealed by paragraph 42.
228.Paragraph 44 repeals paragraph 15 of schedule 4 to the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. That provision made an amendment to paragraph 12 of schedule 2 to PoCSA which is also to be repealed by paragraph 42.
229.Paragraph 45 repeals Part 2 of schedule 2 to the Inquiries Act 2005 which makes amendment to a section of PoCSA which is also to be repealed by paragraph 42.
230.Paragraph 46 repeals certain provisions of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 that would have transferred the Scottish Ministers’ functions under Part 5 of the Police Act (the functions carried out by Disclosure Scotland) to the Scottish Police Services Authority.
231.The following table sets out, for each Stage of the proceedings in the Scottish Parliament on the Bill for this Act, the dates on which the proceedings at that stage took place, the references to the Official report of those proceedings, the dates on which Committee Reports and other papers relating to the Act were published, and references to those Reports and other papers.
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007