Criminal Sanctions for Misleading Information
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry · Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report · Issued 12 September 2023 · Addressed to: Scottish Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
In addition to civil liability from any sanction introduced in accordance with Recommendation 22, Scottish Ministers should consider whether there is need for a statutory criminal offence involving strict liability once it is established that information or reports were misleading by reason of false statements or omission of relevant facts.
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report · 12 Sep 2023 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- No published decision on whether to introduce a statutory criminal offence of strict liability for submitting misleading information or reports has been identified to March 2026.
Sources
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government
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.
Scottish Government · 2 Nov 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.