Commissioner initiates preliminary consultation as part of the first statutory review of the Code of Practice

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has this week initiated preliminary consultation as part of the first statutory review of the Code of Practice. The current Code of Practice was approved by Scottish Ministers and the Parliament before taking legal effect on 16 November 2022. The Code applies to Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner. At the time of writing, there have been no breaches of the Code and the bodies to whom the Code applies have achieved compliance through formal assessments conducted by the Commissioner in 2023/24 and 2024/25.

In accordance with the provisions of section 14 (2) of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2020, the Commissioner must keep the Code under review and must publish a report and lay a copy before the Scottish Parliament no later than 3 years after the first Code came into legal effect and at 4 yearly intervals thereafter. This means that the first such report must be laid in Parliament by no later than 15 November 2025.

In the preliminary phase of consultation, the Commissioner has written to the full list of statutory consultees for the Code as specified in section 10 of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2020. Further phases of consultation will follow over the spring and summer months.

It is envisaged that as part of the wider review process, an updated version of the Code will be produced by late summer before being presented to Scottish Ministers for approval under section 12 of the Act. Once approved by Scottish Ministers, the updated Code would then require to be brought into legal effect by regulations made by the Scottish Ministers under section 13 of the Act before replacing the current version.