FOI Disclosures

A FOI response from the SCTS confirmed that the courts' case management system logs only a single entry for section 275 applications regardless of how many applications are made in any individual case. This means that the courts cannot accurately measure how many section 275 applications are made, how many are granted, how many are refused, or how the pattern of decisions varies across courts and sheriffdoms. A court system that cannot measure its own decision-making in this area cannot evaluate whether those decisions are being made consistently, cannot identify whether the approach is compatible with fair trial requirements, and cannot respond effectively to findings such as those in Daly and Keir.

Full analysis — accused.scot/blind-spots-in-the-systemFOI material — accused.scot/scts-section-275-undercount

A FOI response confirmed that no formal equality impact assessment was carried out before the introduction of Scotland's complainer transcript scheme, and that no legal advice on its compatibility with fair trial rights and Article 6 ECHR was obtained or recorded before implementation. The absence of an equality impact assessment and the absence of recorded legal advice raises questions about whether its implications for the rights of the accused were properly considered.

Full analysis — accused.scot/scotland-transcript-scheme-equality-assessment

Internal Scottish Government material released under FOI revealed that officials, senior legal stakeholders and parliamentary representatives explicitly debated whether the use of the word victim before conviction risked undermining the presumption of innocence. The concerns were formally recorded at a judicial governance meeting, raised by the Law Society of Scotland, and translated into parliamentary amendments. The disclosure established that the presumption of innocence was explicitly raised as a concern during internal preparation of this legislation at an institutional level and was consciously set aside as a matter of deliberate policy.

Full analysis — accused.scot/victim-complainer-scotland-foiFOI reference: 202600515424

A FOI response from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed that it has no mechanism to record or identify cases in which an allegation was later established to be false. There is no national data on the frequency with which false allegations are made, prosecuted or result in convictions. A system that cannot measure a phenomenon cannot evaluate its scale, assess its consequences or demonstrate that it is being treated with appropriate seriousness.

Full analysis — accused.scot/copfs-no-mechanism-record-false-allegations-scotlandRelated analysis — accused.scot/scotland-false-allegations-measurement

A FOI request to Police Scotland seeking disclosure of any internal guidance given to officers about the Moorov doctrine and how investigations involving multiple complainers should be conducted was refused. If internal guidance exists about how officers should approach the identification and interviewing of multiple complainers in pattern cases, the content of that guidance is directly relevant to whether those investigations are conducted in a way that preserves the independence of complainers' accounts.

Full analysis — accused.scot/police-scotland-moorov-guidance-refused-disclosure

Internal Scottish Government material released under FOI showed that concerns about affordability and access to justice were being raised throughout a court fee consultation at the same time as the consultation was presenting the changes as broadly acceptable. The material revealed a gap between the internal record of concerns raised and the public presentation of the consultation process.

Full analysis — accused.scot/when-access-to-justice-depends-on-the-balance-sheet

A FOI response from the SCTS confirmed under section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 that no recorded information exists of any project, review or work programme examining whether section 275 decisions have been consistent with fair trial requirements. The absence of any recorded review means that the scale of the problem identified by the Supreme Court in Daly and Keir cannot be assessed from official records.

Full analysis — accused.scot/what-happens-when-a-system-cannot-see-itself