Emergency workers act: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many people have been charged under the 2005 Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act?
2. How many people have been convicted under the 2005 Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act?
3. In relation to question 2, what was the average sentence for these individuals?
4. In relation to question 2, what was the longest sentence for these individuals?

Response

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Specifically, the Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people charged because this information is not held in the Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

However, you may wish to contact The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service at FOI@copfs.gov.uk who may be able to help you.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the additional dataset published alongside our statistical bulletin: Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021. The dataset titled 'Emergency Workers 2020-21' contains data on convictions and average sentences and can be found under supporting documents here: Supporting documents - Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020 - 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Information on the maximum length of custodial sentences issued is provided in the following table. Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and should not be viewed as indicative of long term trends. On occasion, custodial sentences exceed maximum length thresholds for a particular offence, this can be because the sentence accounts for multiple charges and/or aggravations which are taken into account during sentencing.

Maximum custodial sentences (in days) for assault under the Emergency Workers (S) Act 2005, where main charge.

Main charge	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Section 1(1)	300	304	334	395	341	274	393	304	274	274
Section 2(1)	274	245	204	547	304	213	213	152	350	304
Section 3(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	304	122	-
Section 5(1)	304	365	547	851	365	365	474	730	580	547

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

The Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database is not a live system and the latest available information is for the financial year 2020-21. Criminal proceedings data are published for financial years, i.e. from 1 April to 31 March. Therefore data for later years will not be available until the relevant publications are published. The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin is due to be published later this year. The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs.

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.