Racism in Scottish Cricket: FOI release

Information requested

Information relating to racism in Scottish cricket from points one through six of your correspondence.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

1. For each of the 53 referral cases looked at by the legal team appointed by Cricket Scotland and overseen by sportscotland when did the alleged incident take place?

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the Scottish Government is not responsible for handling the subject matter.

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

2. For each of the 53 referral cases (other than for the 5 going to a Conduct in Sport Panel and the 2 still being looked at) what was the specific reason why no further action was taken in each case?

Decisions on whether to take further action against individuals were made by Cricket Scotland who released a statement on 18 June 2024 outlining the status of the referrals. This notes that 13 cases were examined by the Conduct in Sport Manager for review and that 5 cases progressed to the Cricket Scotland’s disciplinary procedures.

Cricket Scotland have said that all referrals were required to meet the following criteria in order to be progressed into Cricket Scotland’s disciplinary process:

• Have sufficient evidence of a breach of rules;
• Be clear what that rule is and that it was in place at the time, and;
• Have the jurisdictional remit (or authority) to be able to take formal action and proceed to put the matter before a committee for a further hearing.

Although in some cases no further disciplinary action was taken, the referrals investigation team identified over 250 learning lessons across the 51 referrals which will lead to further action to improve cricket in Scotland. Examples of these learnings include:

• Updating the Cricket Scotland disciplinary Code of Conduct.
• Universal acceptance of Cricket Scotland’s Code of Conduct within Scottish cricket.
• An expedient and consistent disciplinary process to deal with complaints.
• A fair and transparent selection policy to be followed at all levels.
• Record keeping to be made a priority.
• Support and processes to be provided for players involved in any complaints and disciplinary processes.
• Building and establishing EDI training including on bullying, harassment and understanding of terminology across the wider cricket community.
• Improving communication to stakeholders within cricket.
• Establishing appropriate whistleblowing procedures that are recorded and archived in accordance with GDPR guidance.
• Creating a clear code of conduct and guidance around acceptable behaviour, and publishing details of available robust sanctions for both deterrent and disciplinary purposes.
• Establishing a secure digital library of complaints, codes, disciplinary investigations, disciplinary action, and associated materials.
• Issuing guidance to staff, players, and officials on social media usage, whilst offering improved support to those suffering online abuse.
• Educating players, staff, and officials around responsibilities and behaviours within roles withCricket Scotland.
• Updating and widening the Cricket Scotland code of conduct and disciplinary rules, including improved guidelines around sanctions for race related misconduct.
• Improving communication to stakeholders within cricket.
• Establishing EDI/anti-racism and terminology training for Cricket Scotland staff, match officials and the wider cricket community.
• Establishing appropriate whistleblowing procedures that are recorded and archived in accordance with GDPR guidance; ensuring whistle-blowers are properly protected after making a complaint, including setting up procedures that ensure anonymity for complainants.
• Reviewing and clearly communicating Cricket Scotland anti-bullying policies to all staff and coaches; reviewing safe-guarding processes.
• Educational awareness to players, staff, and coaches around body shaming.
• Ensuring all staff and external contractors are aware of appropriate dietary requirements and food provisions at matches, events and on tours.

3. In relation to the 53 referral cases (a) what was the total number of complainants and (b) what was the maximum number of complaints by one complainant?

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the Scottish
Government is not responsible for handling the subject matter.

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

4. Did the Investigations Team contact any of the senior Cricket Scotland personnel in post at the times the Team claims no rules were in place to see if they did exist? (One senior employee of Cricket Scotland in the period 2005/14 when many of the cases, it is believed, happened has very recently told me he has not been contacted by the Team).

The Scottish Government understand that the Referrals Investigation Team contacted Cricket Scotland and the International Cricket Council to obtain information regarding the policies held by Cricket Scotland, both current and historically archived. This was subsequently provided by Cricket Scotland.

As we understand, opinions or recollections from former employees would not have provided a basis for action.

5. What did the legal team do to assess the detailed evidence they had requested in each case provided by complainants and respondents and to reach conclusions on the evidence on the balance of probabilities in each case?

We understand that a process document was agreed by Referrals Investigation Team to ensure consistency in the investigation process. The key points from this process were:

• Where relevant, documentation was provided from complainant through the Plan4Sport referrals process;
• Dependent upon expression of wishes of complainant, an investigation meeting was held or written statement was provided;
• Witnesses identified were contacted and asked to participate in the investigation;
• Subject was contacted and asked to participate in the investigation. Opportunity given to provide documentation as evidence where relevant and witnesses who were then subsequently contacted and asked to participate in the investigation.
• All members of RIT had sight of all documentation and evidence provide from complainant, witnesses and subject;
• RIT produced a referrals report for each referral with recommendations and rationale for the Cricket Scotland board to consider and determine what action to take;
• Any recommendation for a disciplinary hearing clearly stated the alleged rules breached.

6. Why have the 246 supposed examples referred to in thePln4Sport report of July 2022 of policy and procedural failings amounting to examples of racism not been published (suitably anonymised if necessary) to date and why can they not be published now?

The review and report were carried out independently by Plan4Sport. The details of the 448 examples of racism have not, and will not, be shared publicly, in line with the independent nature of the report. The review created a confidential space for individuals to share their personal experiences and specific examples were not shared due to data protection and GDPR reasons. Publication of specific examples could identify complainants and/or respondents

You may be aware, the Changing the Boundaries report did contain detailed high level recurring themes from the 448 examples of racism.

Where we have provided you with a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested, sportscotland may hold some of this information. However, we understand that they may not be able to release the information provided due to data protection.

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.