The Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2025

Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020

1.—(1) The Disclosure (Scotland) Act is amended as follows.

(2) In section 8 (Level 2 disclosure), in subsection (1), after paragraph (c) insert—

“(ca) containing any information relating to the individual provided by the chief officer in response to a request under section 14A or, if no such information has been provided, stating that fact,”.

(3) After section 14 insert—

Provision of relevant UK police etc. information

14A.— (1) Before providing a Level 2 disclosure to an applicant, the Scottish Ministers must request the information mentioned in subsection (3) from the chief officer of any UK law-enforcement body that the Scottish Ministers believe may hold information in relation to the applicant.

(2) But subsection (1) does not require the Scottish Ministers to ask a body for information that they believe will be information that they have or expect to obtain from another person.

(3) The information referred to in subsection (1) is any information relating to the applicant which—

(a) the chief officer reasonably believes to be relevant for the purpose of the disclosure, and

(b) in the chief officer’s opinion ought to be included in the disclosure.

(4) For the purposes of this section, “UK law-enforcement body” has the meaning given in article 5 of the 2025 Order.”.

(4) In section 20 (Level 2 disclosure: application for review), in subsection (2), after paragraph (b) insert—

“(ba) information relating to the applicant provided by a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A,”.

(5) In section 23 (review of relevant Scottish police information by the police)—

(a) for subsection (1)(b) substitute—

“(b) the Level 2 review application specifies, as information that the applicant wishes to be subject to the review, information relating to the applicant provided by—

(i) the chief constable in accordance with section 14, or

(ii) a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A.”;

(b) for subsection (3) substitute—

“(3) The Scottish Ministers must arrange for a review of the information to be carried out in accordance with—

(a) subsections (4) to (7) if the information was provided by the chief constable, or

(b) article 7 of the 2025 Order if the information was provided by a chief officer.”;

(c) after subsection (7) insert—

“(7A) Having been notified of a decision in accordance with—

(a) subsection (7), or

(b) article 7(6) of the 2025 Order,

the Scottish Ministers must give the applicant notice of the matters mentioned in subsection (8).”;

(d) in subsection (8)—

(i) for “The Scottish Ministers must notify the applicant of” substitute “The matters referred to in subsection (7A) are”;

(ii) for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a) the decision of the relevant official (which is to say, the chief constable or, as the case may be, the chief officer),”,

(iii) in paragraph (b), for “chief constable’s” substitute “relevant official’s”;

(iv) in paragraph (c), for “chief constable” in both places it occurs, substitute “relevant official”;

(e) the heading of the section becomes “Review of relevant police etc. information by the provider”.

(6) In section 24 (review of relevant Scottish police information by the independent reviewer)—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) for paragraph (b) substitute—

“(b) the Level 2 review application specifies, as information that the applicant wishes to be subject to the review, information relating to the applicant provided by—

(i) the chief constable in accordance with section 14, or

(ii) a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A, and”;

(ii) in paragraph (c), after “constable” insert “or (as the case may be) chief officer”;

(b) the heading of the section becomes “Review of relevant police etc. information by the independent reviewer”.

(7) In section 28 (independent reviewer: information and representations)—

(a) after subsection (4) insert—

“(4A) Where the review includes a review under section 24 of information relating to the applicant provided by a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A, the Scottish Ministers must provide to the independent reviewer the statement of the chief officer’s reasons for the chief officer’s decision following the review under section 23.”;

(b) in subsection (9), after “(5)” insert “or article 8 of the 2025 Order”.

(8) In section 29 (notification of independent reviewer’s decision), in subsection (2)—

(a) omit the word “and” immediately preceding paragraph (c);

(b) at the end of paragraph (c) insert—

“, and

(d) where the review included a review under section 24 of information relating to the applicant provided by a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A, the chief officer.”.

(9) In section 30 (appeal against independent reviewer’s decision)—

(a) in subsection (2)—

(i) omit the word “or” immediately preceding paragraph (b);

(ii) at the end of paragraph (b) insert—

“, or

(c) where the review included a review under section 24 of information relating to the applicant provided by a chief officer in response to a request under section 14A, the chief officer.”;

(b) for subsection (5) substitute—

“(5) If, before the end of that period, a person with a right to take an appeal under this section notifies the Scottish Ministers that the person does not intend to take an appeal, the person loses the right to take an appeal on the date on which the notification is given.”.

(10) In section 31 (provision of new Level 2 disclosure on conclusion of review proceedings)—

(a) in subsection (7)(c), for the words from “the expiry” to “relevant date,” substitute “the date on which it is no longer possible for anyone to take such an appeal, whether that is because the period for doing so has expired (see section 30(4)) or because the person or (as the case may be) each person who had the right to take an appeal has lost it by virtue of section 30(5),”;

(b) omit subsection (8);

(c) in subsection (9)(b), for “or the chief constable” substitute “, the chief constable or the chief officer”.

(11) In section 33 (Level 2 disclosure: considering relevance and whether to include certain information), in subsection (4)(b), after “section” insert “14A or”.

(12) In section 69 (interpretation of Part 1)—

(a) after the opening words insert—

““2025 Order” means the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/423),”;

(b) after the definition of “chief constable” insert—

““chief officer”, in relation to a body mentioned in article 5 of the 2025 Order, means the person stated by that article to be the body’s chief officer (but this definition does not supersede that given in section 49 for that section’s own purposes),”.