Request

Your request for information dated 21 July 2026 is copied below.

Please treat his correspondence as a request for recorded information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

This request concerns whether the Scottish Police Authority has considered the adequacy and independence of existing scrutiny concerning Family C, including whether further inspection, assurance or inquiry is required.

I seek recorded information held by the Authority, or held on its behalf, between 1 January 2024 and the date of this request.

A. Adequacy of the Learning Review

1. Any briefing, report, advice, correspondence or assessment considering whether the Family C Learning Review provided sufficient scrutiny of Police Scotland.

2. Any record considering whether the Learning Review adequately established:
what Police Scotland knew and when;
the basis for strategic and operational decisions;
responsibility for repeated interviews;
the effectiveness of Gold command;
whether professional welfare concerns were acted upon;
whether all relevant police witnesses participated;
whether all relevant Police Scotland records were available;
whether Police Scotland’s institutional account was independently tested.

3. Any record considering the significance of the Learning Review’s lack of powers to:
compel witnesses;
compel production of documents;
take evidence on oath;
resolve disputed accounts between Police Scotland and COPFS;
determine individual accountability.

4. Any record considering whether Police Scotland’s involvement in:
selecting or identifying participants;
supplying evidence;
analysing events;
checking factual accuracy;
proposing amendments;
agreeing learning,
created an actual or perceived independence issue.

5. Any record showing whether the Authority requested or considered:
the Learning Review evidence inventory;
Police Scotland’s evidence-transfer schedule;
a record of evidence not supplied;
the police participant list;
an evidence-gap log;
Police Scotland’s factual-accuracy response;
the amendment or issue log;
declarations of interest or recusals;
the version first submitted by the independent reviewer;
the final Police Scotland action plan.

6. Any recorded reservation about relying on the published Learning Review as a complete account of police decision-making or accountability.

B. Senior governance and accountability

7. Any briefing or assessment concerning accountability for:
Gold command;
senior investigation oversight;
decisions to continue or repeat interviews;
monitoring the welfare impact on the children;
escalation of disputes with COPFS;
the response to concerns from other agencies.

8. Any record showing whether the Authority considered if concerns should be referred to:
Police Scotland professional standards;
misconduct procedures;
performance or capability procedures;
HMICS;
the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner;
another independent body.
I am not seeking personal disciplinary records or findings concerning an identifiable individual. I seek only the existence, date, general nature and institutional outcome of any process, with personal information redacted.

9. Any record distinguishing between:
operational Police Scotland responsibility;
strategic Police Scotland responsibility;
COPFS direction;
collective multi-agency responsibility.

10. Any concern that the available reviews had not established where responsibility lay.

C. Independence and conflicts

11. Any declaration of interest, conflict assessment or recusal record concerning an SPA member or officer whose previous role overlapped with:
Greater Glasgow policing;
public-protection governance;
child-abuse investigation policy;
oversight of Police Scotland during the relevant period;
subsequent scrutiny of Family C.

12. Any record showing whether an SPA member or officer withdrew, was replaced or continued participating following consideration of an overlap.

13. Any legal or governance advice about actual, potential or perceived conflicts.

14. Any record showing whether the Authority considered appointing an independent adviser or external safeguarding expert.

D. Consideration of further scrutiny

15. Any record considering:
an HMICS inspection;
an independent process-assurance review;
an external safeguarding review;
a review of Police Scotland–COPFS governance;
an independent audit of Family C evidence and decision-making;
ministerial intervention;
a non-statutory inquiry;
a statutory public inquiry.

16. Any option appraisal, briefing, recommendation, meeting note or decision concerning such scrutiny.

17. Any assessment of whether existing reviews are sufficient to command public confidence.

18. Any record considering whether further scrutiny is necessary because:
relevant witnesses could not be compelled;
important witnesses did not participate;
evidence was supplied through organisations being examined;
the joint debrief was unavailable to the Learning Review;
Police Scotland and COPFS may hold differing accounts;
the Learning Review did not determine individual or senior accountability;
implementation is being monitored primarily by the organisations criticised.

19. Any recorded reasons for supporting, opposing, delaying or declining an independent or statutory inquiry.

20. Any record showing whether the Authority has made, or considered making, a recommendation to Scottish Ministers concerning further scrutiny.

E. Correspondence with Ministers and other bodies

21. Any correspondence concerning further scrutiny of Family C exchanged with:
the Cabinet Secretary for Justice;
the Minister for Victims and Community Safety;
Scottish Government officials;
HMICS;
Police Scotland;
COPFS;
the Care Inspectorate;
Glasgow City Council or Glasgow public-protection bodies.

22. Any ministerial request for assurance about Family C and the Authority’s response.

23. Any record showing what assurance the Authority has given Ministers that similar failures will not recur.

24. Any recorded qualification or limitation attached to that assurance.

F. Public confidence and transparency

25. Any assessment of the effect of Family C on:
public confidence in policing;
confidence in complex child-abuse investigations;
confidence in the Police Scotland–COPFS relationship;
confidence in existing review mechanisms.

26. Any communications or publication strategy concerning how the Authority should publicly describe:
Police Scotland’s response;
the Learning Review;
the joint debrief;
HMICS involvement;
calls for a public inquiry.

27. Any decision concerning whether Family C scrutiny should be conducted in public or private.

28. Any record showing whether the Authority considered holding:
a public Board discussion;
a public briefing;
a roundtable;
a stakeholder or survivor-informed session;
a dedicated Policing Performance Committee item.

29. Any reasons recorded for not doing so.