Dear Ed,

I am writing as the Chief Statistician for the Scottish Government.

For the first time in 2023/24, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) was expanded to collect new information on adult experiences of fraud and computer misuse. This was developed following interest from users, to keep the SCJS in line with the changing nature of crime and to further align with the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

The new victim form that underpinned this move was largely developed, with some modifications, from the one used by the CSEW. Throughout this process, colleagues from ONS provided ongoing advice and guidance, which added significant value. Once the questionnaire was finalised, a panel of Ipsos and ScotCen interviewers conducted a pilot exercise. Their feedback was helpful in improving the questionnaire and adding additional explanations to aid respondents.

For the first year of these results, Scottish Government analysts worked with colleagues at ScotCen to conduct a thorough review of all victim forms collected for the purpose of quality assurance and categorisation. Aside from these enhanced quality assurance checks, the data is processed in the same way as has been established for the existing property and violent crime victim forms.

The first findings from these questions were published in June 2025 (1) with the second published in March this year (2).

In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Act 2007, I would be grateful if your Assessment Team can undertake an assessment of the recently introduced fraud and computer misuse questions within the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS).

We look forward to working with the assessment team on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Alastair McAlpine
Chief Statistician