51.Where a Level 2 review application seeks review of the inclusion of relevant police information that has been provided by the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland, Ministers must refer the application to the chief constable for a review. The chief constable must decide whether the chief constable still reasonably believes that the information is relevant to the purpose of the disclosure and that it ought to be included in the disclosure. The chief constable must invite representations from the applicant when carrying out the review and have regard to them. It is necessary that the initial review is carried out under the authority of the chief constable, as the person whose duty it is to provide ORI. In practice, however, as a matter of good administrative practice, it is expected that the review would be carried out by members of police staff who have not previously been involved in the original disclosure process. It is expected that similar provision for review of relevant police information provided by the chief officers of other relevant police forces in the UK will be made by order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998.
52.On completion of the review, the chief constable must notify Ministers of the decision and reasons for it, and in turn Ministers must notify the applicant of the outcome and reasons. In cases where the chief constable has decided the relevant police information should remain on the disclosure, Ministers must advise the applicant of the option to have the chief constable’s decision reviewed by the independent reviewer under section 24.
53.No review application may be made under this section if the information could be reviewed under section 18 of the ACR Act (which relates to information provided by the police about pre-12 years behaviour which can no longer amount to a criminal conviction).