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That is helpful. I hope that it is possible to ask a supplementary question on non-disclosure agreements. Perhaps Fiona McQueen might be best placed to answer it, because she has raised that issue. Many organisations use non-disclosure agreements as a matter of routine. They use them in almost every situation when there is any kind of payment. I know that your organisation has decided as a matter of policy not to use them. The Police Federation says that non-disclosure agreements are used in 99 per cent of legal cases that are settled. That may or may not be an accurate statistic, but it gives the impression that they are used quite a lot. Police Scotland is a public body that gets public money, and you have referred to the fact that the employee might want to rely on non-disclosure agreements and privacy clauses in certain circumstances. Could you expand now, or perhaps in writing afterwards, on when you think such clauses are appropriate and how we could define when they are appropriate, so that we do not have a situation where they are used as a matter of routine?

ACAS guidance is not the only issue if NDAs are used so widely. We know that they are used in a very widespread way by many organisations that ACAS guidance applies to. Information on the public policy issues would be extremely helpful.

I have a question for Robin Johnston. In previous evidence sessions, we have heard reference to the right of individual police officers not to incriminate themselves. Will you expand on that and explain that? In what circumstances is it appropriate that police officers have that right, given that, presumably, the purpose of the complaints process is to try to get to the truth?

Could I go to David Kennedy to get the federation’s perspective? Would you have any concerns?

If we can put the resource issue to one side, would you have a problem with such an approach? It is not a question of whether a case has been made in relation to the police; independent complaints processes are being considered across a range of institutions. Is there any reason why we should not go down that path if the resource implications were equivalent?

Some of the witnesses on the previous panel were supportive of a completely independent complaints process, which they referred to as the gold standard. There have been concerns about the resource implications of such an approach in the past, but one witness on the previous panel made the point that the same resource issues exist with the current PIRC system. What is your response to the proposal for an independent complaints process, which operates in several other countries? We will start with Chief Superintendent Hay.

I would like to hear from Unison, if that would be okay with the convener.

Unison organises civilian staff rather than officers, although, increasingly, your members undertake many roles that would previously have been undertaken by police officers. How do you think that the issue relates to Unison? How does your complaints process operate? Would it be appropriate for civilian staff to be covered by an independent complaints process?

I appreciate that you might not have hard data, but do you have an impression of how often a different decision is taken when, essentially, the facts are the same?

How many redeterminations and appeal decisions are based on new information rather than simply a different view being taken of the same facts? Given the complexity of, for example, the adult disability payment, we are interested in whether it is reasonable for different decision makers to come to different conclusions on the same facts. Can you comment on the extent to which new information changes outcomes?

Lesley Black, you might want to respond to that question, but I have another question that I would also like to put to you.

Based on what we have heard, it seems that, often, redeterminations and appeals are based on further information that has been provided. How easy would it be to try to obtain that information during the initial decision making? Do you have any suggestions on how we could address that, so that the information is captured at the earliest possible stage?