43.Section 15 empowers the Commissioner to require criminal justice bodies to give information to the Commissioner. The section covers any information that the Commissioner reasonably requires to establish whether the body is in compliance with its standards of service, or the Victims Code for Scotland, under the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014. Subsection (2) sets out the content of the notice which the Commissioner must give the body when information is required. Subsections (3) and (4) set out exemptions to the obligation on criminal justice bodies to supply information to the Commissioner under this section. Subsection (6) makes provision for cases where a criminal justice body refuses to supply information under the exemption set out in subsection (3). If the Commissioner is of the view that the exemption does not apply in relation to that information, and that the information should have been supplied, the Commissioner can report the matter to the Court of Session to determine whether the information should be supplied.
44.Section 16(1) gives the Commissioner the power to take either or both of the actions set out in subsections (3) and (4) where a criminal justice body, without a reasonable excuse, refuses or fails to supply information which the Commissioner has requested under section 15. Section 16(1) does not apply where the criminal justice body has relied on the exemptions in section 15(3) or (4) to refuse to supply information. Section 16(2) gives the Commissioner the power to take the action set out in subsection (4) where the Commissioner suspects that information which has been supplied under section 14 has been deliberately altered.
45.The action set out in subsection (3) is the publication by the Commissioner of the fact that the criminal justice body has refused or failed to supply the information. The action set out in subsection (4) is the reporting by the Commissioner of the refusal or failure to supply the information, or the altering of the information, to the Court of Session. Subsection (5) provides that, where the Commissioner reports a refusal or failure to supply information, or the altering of information, to the Court of Session under subsection (4), the Court may make any enforcement order that the Court considers appropriate, which includes the making of no order, or may treat the matter as contempt of court.
Crown Application Information gathering Section 15 and 16 – power to gather information, and failure to supply required information