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At the end of the reporting year 2024-25, there were 246 mandatory Fatal Accident Inquiries where a First Notice had not been lodged with the Sheriff Clerk. Of those 246 cases, 92 were less than one year old (from the date the death was reported to COPFS), 75 were more than one year old and 79 were more than two years old.

At the end of the reporting year 2023-24, there were 250 mandatory Fatal Accident Inquiries where a First Notice had not been lodged with the Sheriff Clerk.

At the end of the reporting year 2022-23, there were 218 mandatory Fatal Accident Inquiries where a First Notice had not been lodged with the Sheriff Clerk.

For the reporting years 2022-23 and 2023-24, we hold no data on the age profiles of those cases.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Responsibility for the delivery of the transmission network infrastructure including compliance with safety standards, sits with the transmission owner working within a regulatory framework overseen by Ofgem and other relevant regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive.

COPFS does not record this information. There is no formal process that requires to be followed to request that a Fatal Accident Inquiry is held. The views of nearest relatives will be obtained during the death investigation process and taken into account when the final decision is made.

COPFS regularly invites and receives feedback from nearest relatives of their experience of the death investigation and Fatal Accident Inquiry processes. That feedback is carefully considered to identify any improvements that can be made. As an example, feedback obtained by COPFS VIA Officers on the questions commonly asked by relatives was used to assist in the preparation of a Guide to Fatal Accident Inquiries on the COPFS website, providing detailed information for bereaved families about the FAI process.

COPFS has established a Death Investigations Improvement Board to oversee all ongoing pieces of work and new proposals to achieve greater public confidence, to improve the service delivered to bereaved relatives and to reduce the journey time for concluding death investigations, including FAIs. One of the significant workstreams of that Board is the proposed creation of a Lived Experience Advisory Panel, which will enable participants with experience of the death investigation process to help inform improvements to the process by providing independent advice to the Board on a range of issues.

As at 3 April 2025, there are 246 mandatory Fatal Accident Inquiries where no First Notice has been lodged with the Sheriff Clerk. The oldest of those cases was reported to COPFS on 19 August 2018.

Latest data from the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey shows that, in 2022, Scotland’s nuclear power sector directly employed 2,700 (full-time equivalent) and had an estimated turnover of £763 million.

A five-year time series – of employment and turnover in the nuclear power sector - from 2018 to 2022, is presented in the following tables.

The results in LCREE are survey-based, as the data is gathered from a sample rather than the whole population. The estimates are therefore subject to uncertainty, and the level of uncertainty is expressed through confidence intervals. These are presented alongside the estimates in the following tables.

Not all of the data requested is recorded centrally. The Scottish Government publishes statistical data on FAIs annually on its website. The latest data is reproduced in the following table:

No.

The recommendations in FAI determinations cover a wide variety of policy areas. Each area will consider what action to take in relation to each recommendation that is relevant to its own area of responsibility.