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

Lord Cameron of Lochiel Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Con)]

My Lords, I take this opportunity to welcome the noble and learned Baroness the Advocate-General for Scotland to the Front Bench. Although she has been in post for a while, this is the first time that I have been in Grand Committee with her, and I wish her well in all that she does for His Majesty’s Government. I am grateful to her for her opening remarks on this order.

In terms of the original legislation as passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Disclosure (Scotland) Act is intended to simplify the process by which information on a person held by the police can be shared. It will go into effect on 1 April this year, replacing the existing three levels of disclosure with just two levels. It is worth noting the broad welcome that the legislation has received, as well as cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament; for instance, Volunteer Scotland welcomed the Act for both its potential to remove barriers for individuals with past convictions seeking employment and its ability to strengthen the PVG scheme. However, we must remain mindful of the complexities and nuances involved. These changes will undoubtedly have a significant impact on various professional sectors, particularly those that work with vulnerable groups. In addition, it will significantly affect how personal data, including criminal history, is shared.

The purpose of the order before the Grand Committee is, rightly, to ensure that the existing arrangements for cross-border information sharing between UK law enforcement bodies and Scottish Ministers continue. It will also help prevent any disruption to the flow of crucial data between UK law enforcement and Scottish Ministers.

Although we do not oppose this order, rather like the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, I observe that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee noted this as an instrument of interest because it would create inconsistencies in the way in which information is shared between police forces and Scottish Ministers, as compared to the rest of the UK. Police forces outside Scotland would have a duty to allow the subject of a request to make representations on other relevant information when a request originated in Scotland, despite having no such duty for other requests in the rest of the UK. That introduces a critical question: why is it necessary to create this distinction? There is a concern that this difference in treatment could lead to inefficiencies for both law enforcement agencies and individuals. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments as to the position of the UK Government on this seeming inconsistency.

Further, can the Minister clarify how police forces across the UK will be supported in managing these new obligations on the ground, especially in ensuring that adequate resources are there to ensure that the transition to a new system does not lead to delays or hinder in some way the sharing of critical information? Finally, given the complex nature of this situation, can she assure us that the guidance due to be published will be easy to understand and clear to the public? I look forward to hearing what she has to say.

[Baroness Smith of Cluny (Lab)]

I thank noble Lords for their contributions. I am particularly pleased to see the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, who has done a lot of work in anticipation of this order, which has been in inception for some time. I am grateful for the points raised and the opportunity they allow for some reassurance to be given.

The noble Lord, Lord Bruce, commented that it is a question of how the differences will not come to be a problem in practice when, plainly, police forces and other public bodies are essentially required to treat requests differently, to a certain extent, depending on where in the United Kingdom the case emanates from. Many of the processes are the same; it is really on the question of review that there comes to be a bit of difference. It is also worth observing that there is a process whereby an applicant can ask for a review under the current regime and the one that will remain in England and Wales. The substance of the process—the fact that a police force is required to undertake a review—remains the same. The skills and the tests are the same. It is the substance that matters a great deal to the applicant.

It is the case that the weight of obligations will change a little bit. At present, an applicant may be asked for additional information, whereas this order places a duty on the public body to do so and to have regard to it. However, I reassure noble Lords that the substance of the matter and the questions to be asked remain the same. There is also one other difference, which is the opportunity to have an independent reviewer look at the process.

I understood the noble Lord to be asking what work has been undertaken to ensure that these differences are understood and therefore can be implemented beyond simply police forces because, as he observed, this will affect a wider group than just police forces. Scotland Office officials have worked to create the policy as well as draft this order alongside counterpart officials in the Scottish Government, the Ministry of Justice—my office—the Home Office, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland and the Welsh Government. Police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been consulted and have provided valuable input until January this year. Statutory guidance has been developed and the same police forces and bodies have been involved in its drafting. The guidance aims to be as consistent as possible with the existing guidance issued to officers across the United Kingdom.

It is worth observing that Disclosure Scotland has existing relationships with all the public bodies that provide information at the moment, so it is not a question of the scope of public bodies with which it needs to interact changing. There are relationships there, and the functions are understood. Engagement has been led by Disclosure Scotland through the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as well as with wider parties, to ensure that there is a clear understanding.

I hope I can reassure noble Lords that there has been good engagement. On the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, it is important that the guidance is clear, and efforts have been made not just to make it clear but to engage the affected parties so that it is clear to them as well as to the Government. One concern raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, was that the wrong information may be disclosed. I hope that that will not be a consequence of this order, for the reasons I have given: the substantive exercise to be undertaken and the tests to be applied remain unchanged; it is simply a question of the opportunities for review and how those reviews are undertaken. As for a failure to apply the review processes properly, raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, I think that speaks to the policy purpose behind introducing the independent reviewer function, which allows not only another step of review to take place but indeed for that to be undertaken by someone independent.

On the final point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, on additions to guidance and a concern around inefficiencies, I detect that that may speak to the question of resources. Again, I hope that because of the extensive engagement that has gone on over a period of time and the fact that the guidance is being drafted in consultation with those affected that will not be an issue and it will simply be the case that public bodies recognise, with the assistance of Disclosure Scotland, that this is a request coming in from Scotland and that there are slightly modified rules to be applied if, and only if, the applicant asks for a review, as of course many of these issues will be dealt with without that being required.

I close by saying that this order demonstrates the continued commitment of the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to deliver for Scotland.

Violence Against Women and Girls

Lord Cameron of Lochiel Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Con)]

My Lords, one of the principal examples of violence against women and girls in recent years was the grooming gangs scandal. While we are disappointed that the Government chose not to establish a full statutory inquiry into this issue, Ministers have now commissioned a rapid three-month audit led by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey. Can the noble and learned Baroness confirm when the audit’s findings will be published and when we can expect to see the Government’s formal response to it?

[Baroness Smith of Cluny (Lab)]

I regret to tell the noble Lord that I do not have the date when it will be published, but he can be assured that the utmost attention will be paid to it, in line with our attitude towards all these issues, which, as I described, are a national emergency. The bigger issue that the noble Lord raises is a crisis of confidence in policing; that will be central to the strategy that we write, because we know that the police response to violence against women and girls has not been good enough to date. Victims must feel confident in the police’s ability to handle their case. That is why we have already taken steps by embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and by also seeking to create dedicated domestic abuse teams within every police force, so that these things never happen again.