History of Disclosure Scotland
Disclosure Scotland was launched on 29 April 2002. It was developed under the guidance of the Scottish Government, following the enactment of Part V of the Police Act 1997. This introduced a system of disclosing criminal history information to individuals and organisations for employment and other purposes.
Protecting Vulnerable Groups
From October 2007, Disclosure Scotland formed part of a new agency which will operate the new membership scheme provided for in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.
Code of Practice
The Code of Practice is a document which sets out the standards with which a Registered Person or Body is required to comply. Broadly speaking this covers:
- The use of information provided to it by Disclosure Scotland
- The legal right to ask the Exempted Question under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland)) Order 2003. The 2003 Order has been amended by the 2006 Order and 2007 Order.
Download a specimen handling policy
Operational partner
British Telecommunications plc (BT) operates as our business partner. Their appointment followed a competitive negotiation process. They are responsible for various operational aspects of the service, including:
- call centre facility
- issue and receipt of applications
- verification and authentication of applicants
- processing of fee payments
- development and support of disclosure IT systems
- printing and issuing of Disclosure certificates
BT is not responsible for searching the criminal history systems or for determining which criminal record information is included on the Disclosure certificates.
Accreditation
Disclosure Scotland is accredited to BS EN ISO9001: 2008 for quality assurance purposes.
