Leader demands NDEU business case through Freedom of Information

The Leader of The Highland Council, Margaret Davidson has resorted to using the Freedom of Information Act to access Police Scotland’s business case for the National Database Enquiry Unit (NDEU).

Police Scotland will be asking the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to make a decision on its preferred option on 28th September.

Councillor Davidson said: “I am genuinely disappointed that I have had to resort to this. I do not believe the business case is a state secret or in any way compromising to national security and it should be publicly available in the interests of transparency in decision making. I have been allowed to briefly view a confidential copy during a meeting, but was not permitted to take it away to study the options in detail. This is simply not the way to conduct business in the public interest. 

“It is not even clear if the SPA Board will receive a full copy of the business case at this meeting in order to consider its decision in public and hold Police Scotland to account. The HMICS report in May 2017 criticised the SPA for holding committees in private and restricting access to reports and it is clear to me that neither Police Scotland nor the SPA have taken any notice of this criticism. I would suggest that this is partly why the SPA is in such a woeful state.”

She continued: “If my FOI request is refused, I intend to take this up with the Information Commissioner.”