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Scottish Criminal Record Office
2000 Primary Inspection

7. Results

What the organisation is achieving in relation to its planned objectives and in satisfying the needs and expectations of everyone with an interest or stake in the organisation.

7.1 This section examines a range of data gathered by SCRO that reflects the activities undertaken by the organisation. HMIC is looking for evidence of continuous improvement, normally measured by comparing the organisation's current performance against its own record. In some instances benchmarking with other organisations will be appropriate. Where appropriate adoption of good practice from others can be a key factor in developing improvement. HMIC anticipates that SCRO will have set a standard against which its performance can be judged. The information presented will assist in focussing SCRO's achievements and act as a pointer as to where some improvement is needed. The information presented below is structured around a number of key indicators of performance likely to be of interest and value to all stakeholders. HMIC will generally take a 5 year view where that is meaningful and the data is available. Trends rather than year on year comparison is presented. HMIC considers the following worthy of particular note.

7.2 Table 3 and Figure 9 highlight that the number of speculative and extended speculative searches have declined by nearly 10% and 13% respectively over the previous 3 year average.

7.3 Table 5 illustrates that the number of stolen property searches conducted has been in decline since 1997 and in 1999/2000 was down by over a quarter on the previous 3 year average. Subsequent identifications have declined more than 40% over the same period. The number of searches per item on the database is extremely low suggesting limited use of this system.

7.4 Table 6 indicates that the number of searches on the stolen MOT and Vehicle Excise License database is down by 87% on the previous 2 year average and that the number of identifications is down by 85%. These results indicate an under-utilisation of the system.

Budget

• The approved budget for SCRO remained constant at £4.5 million for the financial years 1997/98 and 1998/99.
• However the latest year, 1999/00, saw a rise of nearly 12%.

Figure 4: Approved Budget for SCRO

Personnel

• The total strength of the Scottish Criminal Records Office for 1999/00 stood at 116 members of police and civilian staff. This is a rise of nearly one fifth (+19%) on the average of the previous two years.
• Nevertheless this total continues to fall short of the authorised establishment of SCRO, down by seven staff in 1999/00.
• The recent addition of two police officers in 1999/00 meant that police numbers were up an eighth (+12.5%) on the previous two year average.
• However a more marked rise has occurred for civilian staff - up over one fifth (+20.2%) over this same time period.
• The number of police officers per section has remained stable throughout the three years examined here, the differences in proportions in 1999/00 being accounted for by two additional officers working on a project relating to Part V of the Police Act 1997.
• Sergeants continue to make up the majority of police posts within SCRO. The proportions of ranks changed in 1999/00 with the addition of one acting Superintendent and one Chief Inspector working on the Part V Police Act 1997 project.
• With regard to support staff, three of the four sections have experienced increases in staff numbers. The highest percentage rise has occurred within the Fingerprint Bureau, up +31.1% on the previous two year average - this section now accounts for over three-fifths of all SCRO support staff.
• Indeed, combining police and support staff, personnel within the Fingerprint Bureau has risen +28.6% over the same time period, raising its proportion of all SCRO staff from 50.5% in 1997/98 to 54.3% in 1999/00.
• Figure 3 shows the breakdown of total staff in 1999/00 by section.
• Despite recent increases in staff numbers for both the User Support Bureau and the Computer Section, their percentage shares of total staff have fallen slightly as a result of the greater increases experienced by the Fingerprint Bureau.

Figure 5: SCRO Personnel - 1999/00

Table 1: Breakdown of staff by Section

Figure 6: Breakdown of Total Staff by Division - 1999/00

Criminal History System

• The Criminal History database held a total of 789,000 records in 1999/00 -an increase of +2.6% on the previous three year average.
• A small and declining proportion of these records serves as a non-criminal national firearms and explosive certificate holders register - down from just under one tenth of all records in 1996/97 (9.6%) to a share of 8.5% in 1999/00.
• The number of records within the 'other' category -containing criminal records -has risen +3.2% on the previous three year average. This database also contains long term missing persons records, which in 1999/00 numbered 282 (compared with 249 in 1998/99).
• The total number of criminal history disclosure enquiries dealt with by the User Support Bureau has risen annually, and in 1999/00 had risen by nearly a quarter (+23.3%) on the previous two year average.
• In spite of this growth in enquiries, the USB has maintained its Service Level Agreement to provide a written response within ten working days of receipt.
• Both police and non-police disclosure enquiries have contributed to the rise -each having increased on the previous two year average, by +67.3% and +16.7% respectively. (Trends over the last three years separately are illustrated in Figure 5.)
• Although the majority of enquiries continue to be Non-Police disclosures, the steeper rise in the number of Police enquiries has enabled its share of all enquiries to extend from 12% in 1997/98 to 17.8% in 1999/00.
• This is in spite of the fact that the inclusion of the voluntary sector within the Criminal Information Scheme in September 1998 resulted in the additional admission of several voluntary childcare organisations.
• For police disclosures, non-Scottish telephone enquiries and enquiries from the MOD have fallen quite sharply over the last three years.
• Education and Social Work continue to account for the greatest number of non-police enquiries, the former continuing to grow strongly - up just over a fifth on the previous two year average.

Fig 7: Criminal History System Database

Table 2: Types of Disclosure Enquiries

Fig 8: Criminal History Disclosures (indexed on 1997/98)

Table 3: Criminal History System Transactions

• The total number of Criminal History transactions has increased yearly, with 1999/00 up +17% on the previous three year average. So too, has the average number of transactions per criminal record.
• This rise is mainly due to a growth by over a fifth in the number of reference/nominal transactions.
• Record updates are the only other transaction type to show an increase over this same time period.
• Extended speculative enquiries necessitate User Support Bureau expertise and therefore numbers of these transactions will tend to be low, accounting for around 1% of all speculative searches. Other speculative searches can however be performed at any terminal, but nevertheless these continue to decline, accounting for around 3% only of all transactions in 1999/00.
• The increase in the number of reference /nominal transactions has pushed their share of total transactions from 83.9% in 1996/97 to 87.5% in 1999/00.
• Shares for all other transaction types have declined, with those for extended speculative and extra facilities transactions remaining lower than 1%.
• Marker or Flag facilities allow Criminal Intelligence Officers to indicate their interest in particular records. Flagged records ensure that the enquirer is not aware of this interest.
• Both INT flags and markers show declines on the previous two year average. Examination of the data per year shows that these declines are the result of a drop in INT flags/markers in the latest year alone.
• The number of DNA Markers held on the database in 1999/00 was more than double the average of the previous two years. These markers refer to records where samples have been taken for the purposes of DNA profiling and where the criminal has subsequently been convicted. In cases where a conviction is not secured, the marker is weeded from the system automatically.
• The number of photographic images of persons held on criminal records has also been increasing over this time period -up over +53%. It is the responsibility of each force to scan these images onto the system.
• Other markers or warning signals contained within the system include identifiers of registered and unregistered sex offenders, and data protection markers.

Fig 9: % Share of Transaction Types

Table 4: Additional Information held on database

Fig 10: Additional database information (indexed on 1997/98)

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