Policy surrounding the use of the High Profile case tracker: FOI release

Information requested

Policy surrounding the use of the High Profile case tracker in relation to criminal cases and a list of which ministers and civil servants have access to this tracker and the reasons why.

Response

I have interpreted your request as relating to the High Profile Case Tracker relating to criminal trials and appeals. This Tracker is updated each week using information that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service provide to Scottish Government officials, listing high profile criminal cases and appeals expected to call in court in the following week. This list is sent to Ministers and civil servants who have an interest in this matter. The following Ministers and senior civil servants are sent a copy of the High Profile Case Tracker each week:

Ministers who receive a copy of the High Profile Case Tracker:

Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans - Keith Brown MSP
Minister for Community Safety - Ash Regan MSP

Senior Civil Servants who receive a copy of the High Profile Case Tracker:

Joe Griffin – Director General, Education and Justice
Neil Rennick – Director of Justice
Helen Nisbet – Deputy Director, Defence, Security and Cyber-Resilience
Willie Cowan – Deputy Director, Criminal Justice
Catriona Dalrymple – Deputy Director, Community Justice

This list is accurate as of 20 April 2022. The tracker is also sent to a number of more junior civil servants whose names have been withheld under section 38(1) of FOISA (see below). While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.

The Scottish Government does not hold information about policy concerning the use of the High Profile Case Tracker. Decisions about which cases are considered to be 'High Profile' are made by COPFS who provide information about these cases to the Scottish Government.

There is no set policy informing the use of the tracker - in general terms the list is sent to officials within the Scottish Government who work in areas where it may be useful to be aware of high profile cases and/or appeals being heard in the courts.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This is because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

About FOI

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