Edinburgh and Glasgow councils accused of 'letting down' child abuse victims

Both councils have been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office for repeatedly failing to comply with requests to hand over individuals’ personal information, with some having to wait years for a response.

Known as a subject access request, individuals are entitled under data protection law to ask organisations such as councils for any personal information they have on them, and to receive a copy of this information within a month.

Jenny Brotchie, acting head of Scottish affairs at the Information Commissioner’s Office, said: “Those who were let down in the past are being let down again, this time by poor subject access request compliance.

“We have heard how undue delays and lack of communication from local authorities can cause further distress for people, including those with care experience and those trying to claim redress in Scotland.

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“Local authorities must get this right despite the rising number of requests, which is why we have been offering support and monitoring those with poor compliance until we are satisfied that improvements have been made.”

Since 2021 requests for information have increased by 67 per cent. This is partly due to an increase in those applying to the Redress Scotland scheme, which offers financial compensation to those who experienced historic child abuse while in care.

Over the same period of time, 75 per cent of Scottish councils improved their compliance - but an investigation was launched into Edinburgh and Glasgow councils after the Information Commissioner saw no “tangible improvements” over 12 months.

A recent audit of Glasgow City Council found budget and resource issues were holding the authority back from meeting its legal obligations on information requests - however the Information Commissioner says there has been some improvement from Edinburgh since it intervened.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said the city has faced a 350 per cent increase in these requests since the Redress scheme was launched.

Around half of these requests are fulfilled within the legal timeframe.

They added: “Glasgow health and social care partnership has recruited additional staff to focus on the backlog of cases - and the council has also agreed to invest in technology to support and speed up the redaction process, which can be significant in these cases.”

Councillor Jane Meagher, Edinburgh’s council leader, said their requests have similarly doubled due to the Scottish child abuse inquiry.

She added these are often complex requests, with one case running into 8,000 pages and taking six months to process.

Councillor Meagher said: “We’ve committed substantial time, money and effort into improving performance and response times, more than trebling the size of the time, revising our processes and investing in new redaction software.

“This has started to pay dividends, with compliance rates showing sustained improvement throughout 2024 and reaching 89 per cent for cases due in January 2025.

“We’re confident of improving this still further.”