Response

The Authority is responsible for handling complaints as set out in the Complaint Handling Procedures available on our website.

Complaints from members of the public and internal complaints from Police Scotland officers/staff, received between July 2023 and 10 January 2024, are listed at Appendix 1. This provides date received and subject. Please note ‘subject’ is only usually recorded in relation to ‘relevant complaints’. However, for the purpose of your request we have provided a subject description for all, as an outline of each complaint as per your request is not held.

The Authority considers the original complaints exempt in terms of the Act. The Authority received this information from third parties in respect of its statutory duties. To disclose this information would be a breach of confidence. This exemption is absolute and does not require the application of the public interest test. Whilst you may have a legitimate interest in disclosure of this information, it is our view that those interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subjects.

Complaints are considered under the appropriate framework, all of which are publicly available. Review and appeal routes are available to complainers if they are dissatisfied with the outcome. Complaints performance regarding ‘relevant complaints’ is reported publicly to the Complaints and Conduct Committee. The SPA Quarterly Report Q2 23/24 presented at the meeting of 14 November 2023 covers part of the period in question, see pages 26-28.