Disclosure checks requested by City of Edinburgh Council for Super Sponsor and Homes for Ukraine schemes: FOI release

Information requested

The number of disclosure checks requested by City of Edinburgh Council in the last three months for those wishing to host Ukrainian refugees. You further requested a breakdown of checks that had been accepted, rejected and were pending.

Response

Please find below the information you requested.

Ukrainian Applications for City of Edinburgh Council – 23 May 2022 to 23 August 2022 (dates inclusive)
791 received and completed
0 pending applications

With regard to your request for a breakdown, I confirmed that Disclosure Scotland does not make any decisions based on the content of certificates, and that we therefore could not provide a number of ‘accepted’ and ‘rejected’ applications. I have provided a link to the guidance below which explains how local authorities use enhanced disclosures as part of this scheme:

Person checks - Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine: guidance for local authorities - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As noted in this guidance, all hosts providing accommodation, whether in their own homes or in a separate property, will need to apply for an enhanced disclosure when they register for both the Super Sponsor scheme and Homes for Ukraine scheme. Where providing accommodation in their own homes, all members of their household aged over 16 years will need to apply for an enhanced disclosure.

Enhanced disclosures include both relevant spent and all unspent convictions and allow the police to disclose any other information that they believe to be relevant for the purpose of the disclosure and it ought to be included in the disclosure. Local authorities are responsible for determining a person’s overall suitability to host. Disclosure checks are one part of this process. The linked guidance to local authorities provides them with advice on how to assess enhanced disclosure information.

In support of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Disclosure Scotland established a dedicated team to support local authorities in handling disclosure checks for individuals offering accommodation under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Disclosure Scotland has been working closely with the local authorities involved in the Homes for Ukraine scheme and who have been responsible for submitting all applications under it to date.

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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.