Length of time for Disclosure Scotland to provide a decision: FOI release

Information requested

The longest timeframe in months taken to resolve a 'dispute process' of an individual being Under Consideration for Listing on the Children's List. In response to our request for clarification regarding what was meant by "Disputes Process" and the term "resolve" in the context of disputes or consideration for listing, you responded as follows:

To clarify, I am referring to individuals who have been placed "Under Consideration For Listing" as part of a PVG application. I am interested in finding out the longest length of time it has taken for
Disclosure Scotland to provide a decision (whether to list or not) for those individuals who have made & followed the 28 day 'Representation' process (i.e. The 'representation' process allow the
individual to provide additional information to Disclosure Scotland to assist with the decision to list or not)

So please provide me with the top 3 LONGEST LENGTH OF TIMES (in months) taken for Disclosure Scotland to make a decision to list or not AFTER a 'Representation' process has be made. If it helps to ease the request please start the search from January 2020 & include 'Representation' processes which have finished (i.e. a decision made) AND those which are still active.

Response

I would like to begin by providing some information about the consideration process. When an individual is notified of their formal consideration status, Disclosure Scotland invites them to submit
representations within 28 days. However, we also write to third party organisations to ask them for information. If we are going to rely on any information to make our decision whether to include an individual in either or both lists, we must share this with the individual and once again invite them to submit representations. The consideration process may also continue for some time after
representations have been received if we need to wait for court or other proceedings to conclude.

Of our completed cases the top three longest lengths of time it has taken for Disclosure Scotland to make a decision after a person has provided representations is:

28 months
28 months
26 months

Of our active cases where a decision has not yet been made and the individual has engaged in the representation process, the top three lengths of time are:

32 months
31 months
30 months

About FOI

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.