Section 15: Provision of relevant overseas police information
35.Before providing a Level 2 disclosure to an applicant, Ministers must ask the chief officer of every relevant overseas police force to provide information that the chief officer reasonably believes is relevant for the purpose of the disclosure and that in the chief officer’s opinion ought to be included in the disclosure. Subsection (6) provides the definition of “chief officer” for the purpose of this section and that “overseas police force” includes (a) the States of Jersey Police Force, (b) the salaried police force of the Island of Guernsey, (c) the Isle of Man Constabulary and (d) other equivalent police forces outside the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. This subsection also provides the Scottish Ministers with the power to prescribe “relevant” overseas police forces, which is the detailed criteria that makes an overseas police force relevant for the purpose of the Scottish Ministers requesting information that meets the two-part test.
36.Under subsection (2), where such information is provided, the Scottish Ministers must arrange for a review to be carried out by the independent reviewer. The review process for relevant overseas police information differs from the process for relevant information provided by the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland because the Scottish Parliament cannot impose statutory obligations on overseas police forces in the way it can for the chief constable and the independent reviewer. The independent reviewer must decide if the information is relevant for the purpose of the disclosure and whether the information ought to be included in the disclosure. Subsection (4) provides that it is only if the outcome of the review process (including any appeal against the independent reviewer’s decision) is that the two-part test is met that the information can be included in a Level 2 disclosure. The Scottish Ministers may make further provision by regulations under subsection (5) about the procedural aspects of the independent reviewer carrying out a review of relevant overseas information.
