Criminal History System and Police National Computer

D McIntyre made this Freedom of Information request to Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
This authority is not subject to FOI law, so is not legally obliged to respond (details).
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland did not have the information requested.

Dear Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland,

This request is centred around the Scottish national computer system commonly referred to as the CHS. I understand that the current system in place is referred to as CHS2 and when referring to that system I will use the term CHS2 and when referring to its predecessor I shall refer to it as CHS1. When referring to legislation, this refers to all forms of primary and secondary legislation, i.e. Acts of Parliament as well as Statutory Instruments, etc.

This request makes the assumption that the Criminal History System is the national computer system serving Scottish Police forces whilst the Police National Computer is the national computer system serving English and Welsh Police forces as per the descriptor at the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) which states:

"Following installation and rigorous testing in 1988 the
computerised CHS for Scotland became operational. The added
advantage was that this provided a link into the Police National Computer (PNC) via an interface (Phoenix Force Interface) allowing officers in Scotland to retrieve information from the Police National Computer. The PNC is the national criminal database for England and Wales."

http://www.spsa.police.uk/services/infor...

Please provide details of UK and/or Scottish legislation
that are relevant in establishing the practice and the policy surrounding the transfer of data (specifically around an individual's criminal record) by Scottish Police forces to the Police National Computer [PNC]. Please provide all information pertinent to both CHS1 and CHS2.

Secondly, I would like a copy of all guidance/policy provided by ACPOS to Scottish Police forces specifically around recording data on the Police National Computer.

Note:
A similar request was made to Tayside Police (FOI 418-11) who replied stating they do not hold the relevant information and that:

"By way of explanation, CHS1 and CHS2 are systems used by the Scottish Police service as a whole and do not pertain specifically to Tayside. Any relevant legislation taken into account when compiling the policy would have been considered at a national level in conjunction with the
Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS)."

Yours faithfully,

D McIntyre

Dear Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland,

Good evening, I've not received acknowledgement for this request yet and am just checking it has been received.

Yours faithfully,

D McIntyre

David Steel,

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Mr McIntyre

I am writing in response to your recent request for information from ACPOS
which was passed to me as FOI Co-ordinator.

As you may know, ACPOS is not a scheduled Scottish public authority for
the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, however
the Association aims to act within the spirit of the legislation and
respond to reasonable requests for information when it is available and
not costly to compile.

Your request was as follows:

This request is centred around the Scottish national computer system
commonly referred to as the CHS. I understand that the current system in
place is referred to as CHS2 and when referring to that system I will use
the term CHS2 and when referring to its predecessor I shall refer to it as
CHS1. When referring to legislation, this refers to all forms of primary
and secondary legislation, i.e. Acts of Parliament as well as Statutory
Instruments, etc.

This request makes the assumption that the Criminal History System is the
national computer system serving Scottish Police forces whilst the Police
National Computer is the national computer system serving English and
Welsh Police forces as per the descriptor at the Scottish Police Services
Authority (SPSA) which states:

"Following installation and rigorous testing in 1988 the computerised CHS
for Scotland became operational. The added advantage was that this
provided a link into the Police National Computer (PNC) via an interface
(Phoenix Force Interface) allowing officers in Scotland to retrieve
information from the Police National Computer. The PNC is the national
criminal database for England and Wales."

[1]http://www.spsa.police.uk/services/infor...

Please provide details of UK and/or Scottish legislation that are relevant
in establishing the practice and the policy surrounding the transfer of
data (specifically around an individual's criminal record) by Scottish
Police forces to the Police National Computer [PNC]. Please provide all
information pertinent to both CHS1 and CHS2.

Secondly, I would like a copy of all guidance/policy provided by ACPOS to
Scottish Police forces specifically around recording data on the Police
National Computer. [end]

The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) has responsibility for
managing the CHS as well as ensuring the police service's compliance with
the relevant code of practice for PNC. As such, the SPSA holds
information with regard to the legislative and regulatory framework within
which the system operates.

The use of PNC is governed by the National Policing Improvement Agency
(NPIA) which has issued a Code of Practice for the use of PNC -

http://www.npia.police.uk/en/docs/Police...

The aim of the Code is to establish agreed processes for data entered onto
the PNC. Any updates to the Code are communicated to contacts within
Scottish forces to ensure that guidance for the agreed processes is
current.

I hope that this information is useful. Thank you for your interest in
ACPOS.

Yours sincerely

David Steel

ACPOS FOI Co-ordinator

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

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