Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme Records concerning possession of illegal drugs: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for:

the number of PVG Scheme Records which included "Other Relevant Information" concerning the possession of illegal drugs for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. 

This would include (but not necessarily be restricted to) any "Alternatives to prosecution" or "Direct Measures" issued for drug possession by the Procurator Fiscal or the Police (Fiscal Fines, Fiscal Warnings, Recorded Police Warnings, etc.).

Response

The answer to your question is detailed below.

The statistics relate to the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018.

The number of PVG checks which resulted in Other Relevant Information (ORI) being disclosed in the ORI section of PVG checks, as a result of Direct Measures and Alternatives to prosecutions for drug possession, was less than five in each of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The total number of PVG checks which resulted in Other Relevant Information (ORI) being disclosed in the ORI section of PVG checks, as a result of alternatives to Prosecutions or Direct Measures and Recorded Police Warnings for drug possession, during the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018 was less than ten.

Note:

1. These figures are estimates. It may be possible that the figure could be slightly higher due to misspellings within the police ORI.
2. We carried out a thorough search of records using a number of key words, for example words such as Fiscal Fines, Fiscal Warnings, Work Order, Recorded Police  Warnings, Recorded Police Warnings etc.
3. Due to the very low number of PVG checks issued that meet the criteria of your request, actual results cannot be disclosed to maintain potential confidentiality of individuals as per UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice (see link below).

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Code-of-Practice-for-Statistics.pdf

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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.