Extending of powers in Section 54 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for information on the implementation of Section 97 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (the 2022 Act), and a related working group chaired by the Scottish Government. Specifically, you asked:

“I request a summary of the Scottish Government’s response to this legislation, the progress made to date by the aforementioned working group and a timescale for implementation. In the event that no such response or timescale exists, I request an explanation of the Scottish Government’s rationale behind this circumstance.”

Response

The Scottish Government welcomed the UK Government’s agreement to extend the powers in Section 54 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to Scotland, to enable police officers in Scotland to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) on-the-spot to alleged road traffic offenders for certain minor road traffic offences.

While the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (now the 2022 Act) was undergoing its passage through the UK Parliament, the Scottish Government engaged with the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) on plans for commencement, and convened a group of key justice partners to support planning for the implementation of section 54 in Scotland. This is not an operational delivery group: rather, it has been a forum for the organisations involved in implementation to update each other on the steps they need to undertake to allow for FPNs to be issued under section 54, and their anticipated timescales for that work. Since 2022, the group has covered issues including the scope of commencement; the development of the Lord Advocate’s guidelines on FPNs; the interface between FPNs and COFPNs; provision for the online payment of fines; links with the DVLA’s IT systems; and the development of justice organisations’ own IT systems to allow for the issuing and processing of FPNs.

The group chaired by the Scottish Government last met in January 2024, pending further development and testing of Police Scotland’s IT systems. Since then, the justice organisations with a direct role in implementation – that is, Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service – have continued to meet with and update each other on progress with implementation preparations. These organisations will be best-placed to provide you with their most up to date estimated timetable for implementation, and I note that you have submitted similar FOI requests to Police Scotland and COPFS.

About FOI

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