Written Question · S2W-23973 · Session 2
Whether it is legal for officers of the Scottish Criminal Record Office to sign documents on behalf of colleagues and, if so, under what ci…
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is legal for officers of the Scottish Criminal Record Office to sign documents on behalf of colleagues and, if so, under what circumstances, what procedures govern when and where this can be done, what checks (a) existed in January 1997 and (b) currently exist for ensuring that such proxy signatures are authorised by the person on whose behalf the signature is being used, whether it is illegal to sign such a document without authorisation and, if so, who has to provide authorisation, whether, if the document relates to a fingerprint, the person signing on behalf of another officer has to check independently the fingerprint identification, how many times such signatures have been used in the SCRO in each month since January 1997 and what audit arrangements (i) existed in January and February 1997 and (ii) currently exist for ensuring that signatures are not provided fraudulently.
The answer
This would depend on thedocument concerned. It is accepted practice for some documents to be signed onthe author’s behalf if that person is not available to sign the documentpersonally. It is made clear when this is the case by indicating that thedocument is being signed on the author’s behalf. There is no such practice inrelation to the identification of fingerprints.<</p
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-23973 by reference.