Information Commissioner says Police Scotland was not forced to publish stop-search data

The news goes directly against the claims chief constable Sir Stephen House (pictured) made to the police watchdog, the Scottish Police Authority(SPA) that he was compelled to release the records about how many times under 12s had been searched.

Scottish Labour’s shadow justice secretary Hugh Henry described the situation as a “scandal” last night.

The chief constable is to appear before the Scottish parliament‘s justice police subcommittee today to face questions over the matter.

When the SPA questioned Sir Stephen last week, he said: “ was released under the explicit instructions of the Information Commissioner of Scotland.

“We challenged whether it should be released because we said ‘we’re not 100 per cent certain of the accuracy of the data’.

“We wanted more time to work on it, and we were told ‘no, release it now’.”

But a freedom of information (FOI) request for the correspondence made between the single force and the information commissioner has shown that Police Scotland offered the data not included in the original FOI request relating to stop and search figures.

Nor was there any reference to inaccuracies about statutory searches of children.

The FOI information also indicates that the single force did not try to avoid releasing additional stop and search information.

Mr Henry said last night that Sir Stephen must now explain himself.

He said: “His alibi for his officers continuing with non-consensual stop and search of under-12s, six months after they said it would be stopped, has fallen apart under cross examination.

“He now has some serious questions to answer when he appears before the justice committee.

“If Scotland’s top police officer can’t get his evidence straight there is something far wrong.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Our decision to release the data was supported by an independent assessment of FOI procedures undertaken by an external firm of solicitors and our assessment of the likelihood of a subsequent adverse decision notice being issued under FOI legislation if the appeal continued.

“Legal advice concurred that Police Scotland is obliged to provide data that falls within the scope of a request, despite our concerns over its accuracy.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said the situation was a “sorry mess” and that the email exchange “rebuts each and every point the chief constable used in his defence at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA)”.

“He said the Scottish Information Commissioner compelled Police Scotland to publish stop and search information. This exchange makes clear that the release wasn’t ordered.

“Police Scotland did not resist this, nor did they seek to make their case in the courts. Contrary to the chief constable’s claims, the national force voluntarily released this information.”

Ms McInnes added: “The national force spent months correcting stop-and-search data prior to its release. When it was finally released to the BBC, Police Scotland gave no indication whatsoever of further inaccuracies surrounding the consensual search of children.

“And yet, it is evident that Police Scotland’s story changed utterly between it dispensing the information on 23 January and their giving evidence to the SPA on Friday 13 February.

In the email thread it is acknowledged that there are issues with the stop and search database but that that “the timetable for the data correction is still on track” for early January 2015.

The commissioner said: “The disclosure by Police Scotland was voluntary, and gave explanations and context to the data, all of which is good practice by the Police Scotland staff.”