Police Act 1997 and Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007: consultation on amendments

Covering Letter

Dear Sir or Madam

Proposed Draft Police Act 1997 and Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 Remedial Order 2018

I enclose a copy of a notice in relation to the Proposed Draft Police Act 1997 and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 Remedial Order 2018 ("the 2018 Proposed Draft Order") which will make amendments to the Police Act 1997 and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

Scottish Ministers are making this proposed draft order under the Convention Rights Compliance (Scotland) Act 2001. In line with the requirements of section 13(3) of that Act, the attached notice invites you to make written observations on the 2018 Proposed Draft Order.

Responding to this Consultation

We invite responses to this consultation by 26 November 2017.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government's consultation platform, Citizen Space. You can view and respond to this consultation online at http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. You can save and return to your response while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 26 November 2017.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space please send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your response" below) to Disclosure Scotland's Policy Team:

By email to: DisclosureScotland2018Order@gov.scot

We would prefer to receive electronic copies. If, however, you would like to respond in writing please address your response to:

Policy Team
Disclosure Scotland
Pacific Quay
Glasgow
G51 1DZ

Handling your response

If you respond using Citizen Space ( http://consult.scotland.gov.uk), you will be directed to the Respondent Information Form. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be published.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in this document. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential and will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We would therefore have to consider any request made under that Act for information relating to responses to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to enable Ministers to decide if any changes should be made to the 2018 Proposed Draft Order. Responses will be published, where we have been given permission to do so, no later than 20 working days after the consultation closes. Scottish Ministers are required under section 13(4) of the Convention Rights Compliance (Scotland) Act 2001 to lay before Parliament a statement summarising all observations and specifying any modifications they might make to the 2018 Proposed Draft Order.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them by email to: DSPolicyTeam@disclosurescotland.gsi.gov.uk or in writing to:

Policy Team
Disclosure Scotland
Pacific Quay
Glasgow
G51 1DZ

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Consultations may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups, or other online methods such as Dialogue ( https://www.ideas.gov.scot).

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the policy development process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the response received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

Yours faithfully

Lynne McMinn
Head of Policy
Disclosure Scotland