This is to confirm receipt of your email sent to the Freedom of Information Enquiries mailbox of the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) – Scotland’s prosecution service.
What happens next?
Your request will now be considered and, depending on what is requested, the FOI Manager will take the following course of action:

* allocate it to a dedicated member of the FOI Enquiries Team who will manage your FOI request and send you the COPFS response
or

* advise you by email if your request could not, or should not, be managed as a FOI; or if it is being managed by another department in COPFS e.g. if it is personal information this might be managed as a Subject Access Request; or where possible advise you of an alternative route to get the information
or

* advise you by email if it is not our organisation who would have the information requested - and where possible direct you to the probable source.

Please note that other than this automatic email acknowledgement; the above; or our request for clarification of any specific points, no member of the FOI Enquiries Team will contact you until the FOI response is issued.
What are the timescales?
If your request is managed under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 we will respond:

* within 20 working days from the first working day after receipt of your request

or

* within 20 working days from the first working day after receipt of your clarification of any specific points.

For more COPFS FOI information please go to the FOI page on the COPFS website: https://www.copfs.gov.uk/freedom-of-info...

Thank you.
FOI Enquiries Team
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service – Scotland’s prosecution service

This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use, disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender immediately by return.

Correspondents should note that all communications to or from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes. Unless expressly indicated, the views or opinions contained within this e-mail do not necessarily reflect those of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

This message has been checked for the presence of computer viruses. Visit www.crownoffice.gov.uk for details of the work of the Department.

Please find attached a response to your FOI request of 21 April 2022.

Thank you.

FOI Enquiries

www.copfs.gov.uk<http://www.copfs.gov.uk/>
Twitter: @COPFS

________________________________
From: Mark Taylor <[FOI #856097 email]>
Sent: 21 April 2022 10:37
To: FOI Enquiries
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Advice given

Dear Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal (Scotland),

I write to request information regarding if Police Scotland had contacted the COPFS for advice on the breach of the law by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister, on not wearing a face mask in East Kilbride last weekend.

It is my understanding that Police Scotland must refer this to COPFS to make the judgement to charge or not charge because it involves a politician.

Can you provide the policy regarding charges involving politicians. Also can you provide the name and roll of the COPFS employee who made the decision not to charge. Given it was all done and dusted over Easter weekend was that employee on call?

Yours faithfully,

Mark Taylor

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #856097 email]

Is [COPFS request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal (Scotland)? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections