ETI-22 Response Under Consideration

Civil Sanctions for Misleading Reports

Recommendation

Where a company, including an ALEO, knowingly submits a report or other information to local authority officials that is misleading by reason of the inclusion of false statements or the omission of relevant facts, or where such officials knowingly submit such reports to councillors, Scottish Ministers should consider whether there is a requirement for new legislation to allow for civil sanctions against relevant individuals or companies.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- In November 2023, the Scottish Government stated it was "giving careful consideration" to the recommendations about civil damages provisions for misleading evidence, noting that existing remedies may already exist under delictual law (Transport Secretary Statement on Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report, Scottish Government, 2 November 2023).
- No published decision on whether to introduce new civil liability provisions for knowingly submitting misleading reports or information has been identified to March 2026.
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
Scotland
Response
Under Consideration
Under Consideration Scottish Government
02 Nov 2023

The Scottish Government stated it is 'giving careful consideration' to recommendations about civil damages provisions and criminal statutory offences for misleading evidence. The Government noted that existing remedies may already exist under delictual liability and fraud law. Source: Transport Secretary Statement, 2 November 2023.

Read Full Response
Source
Report Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report 01 Aug 2023
Responsible Bodies
Scottish Government Primary
Recommendation age 2.8 yrs
Last formal update 941 days ago