Question reference: S6W-27225
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 2 May 2024
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Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 May 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any communications that it has had in the last 24 months with (a) Police Scotland and (b) the Scottish Police Authority regarding the vulnerable persons database that is operated by Police Scotland.
Answer
The management of the interim Vulnerable Persons Database (iVPD) is a matter for Police Scotland. As with any other organisation, Police Scotland has a duty to gather and process personal data lawfully.
The iVPD is used to source information for both (i) the annual Official Statistics on police recorded domestic abuse incidents and (ii) social research on the volume and type of police recorded hate crime in Scotland.
As part of producing these reports, Scottish Government statisticians have regular and ongoing communications with their counterparts in Police Scotland about the iVPD and the topics of domestic abuse and hate crime. Examples of this include both the planning of updated publications (such as timings for data receipt and quality assurance) and discussions on any future changes that might be made to the methodology for producing these statistics.