Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) is the independent inspectorate for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which is the sole prosecuting authority in Scotland and is also responsible for investigating sudden deaths. Under the terms of the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007, in exercising her inspection functions, the Chief Inspector acts independently of any other person.

The Inspectorate of Prosecution confirmed that a follow-up report on fatal accident inquiries (FAIs) would be included in their future work programme in their Annual Report which was laid before Parliament in December 2018:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/inspectorate-prosecution-scotland-annual-report-2017-18/pages/4/

The Scottish Government has made additional funding available to COPFS which has used some of this resource to allow the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit to try to reduce the time required to complete death investigations. In her Annual Report, the Chief Inspector of Prosecution indicated that she had deferred the follow-up report on FAIs to allow the additional resource to become established and make an impact.

The content of the follow-up report is entirely a matter for the Chief Inspector who has, however, noted in the Annual Report that a robust follow-up process is a critical part of an effective inspection regime.

As indicated to the Scottish Law Commission, the Scottish Government is continuing to consider whether and when there would be a suitable opportunity to take forward the recommendations contained in the Commission’s report on Moveable Transactions. The Government currently faces the challenge of developing and delivering its legislative programmes for the rest of this session within the context of significant pressures and uncertainty created by Brexit.

As part of their work on this project, the Scottish Law Commission completed a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment in which they set out the impact that restrictions in the law regarding these transactions have had on businesses: https://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/files/7415/1359/9231/Business_and_Regulatory_Impact_
Assessment_-_Report_on_Moveable_Transactions_Report_No_249.pdf .

Officials have also meet with the Commission’s advisory group set up for this project and have heard at first hand the issues arising with working under the current law.

This document has been placed with the Parliaments reference centre, bib number 60545.

At present, questions that require historical data dating from 2014 onwards are only answerable at disproportionate cost. Answers to parliamentary questions S5W-20884 on 31 January 2019 and S5W-21538 on 1 March 2019 explain why this is the case. Questions that do not rely on historical data from 2014 onwards may be answered using routine, internal Scottish Prison Service reports or snapshot extracts from the live operational database.

The answer to question S5W-21539, breaking down the prison population by ethnicity, was based on a snapshot extracted from the live database on 18 February 2019.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service aims to have agreed a shared approach to publishing further data by end March 2019.

Timelines for publishing this further data will be shared following formal agreement of the approach and once accompanying plans for delivery are in place.

The Scottish Government will provide updates for users on these via the Scottish Government webpages and other appropriate communication channels.

The information is provided in the following table:

The Saltire Prize Committee has met or held teleconference discussions with officials on the following dates:

• 03 October 2008
• 02 December 2008
• 22 & 23 April 2009
• 07 October 2010
• 22 March 2011
• 22 March 2012
• 18 March 2013
• 17 May 2013
• 18 March 2014
• 24 April 2015
• 08 May 2015
• 10 November 2016
• 27 January 2017
• 7 Februrary 2018

Committee meetings have not been routinely minuted. Meetings of the Saltire Prize Committee have been to inform ongoing policy development and will not be published in SPICe at this time.

As previously stated, the commitment given was that the issue of legal aid for families involved in fatal accident inquiries will be considered as part of wider planned reforms to legal aid legislation arising from the Independent Review of Legal Aid. The Scottish Government intends to consult on these reforms prior to the summer recess.

A comprehensive independent review of the legislation on fatal accident inquiries was undertaken by Lord Cullen, the former Lord President, and reported in November 2009. The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 was passed unanimously by Parliament. The main provisions were implemented in June 2017, less than 2 years ago.

There is no proposal to remove fatal accident inquiries from the remit of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The position of the Lord Advocate as head of the system of prosecution and investigation of deaths is enshrined in the Scotland Act 1998. All sudden, unexpected and suspicious deaths in Scotland are reported to the procurator fiscal, who carries out such investigation as the circumstances require, subject to the direction of the Lord Advocate. Some death investigations result in criminal proceedings. A small minority result in a fatal accident inquiry. In some cases, there may be both a criminal prosecution and a fatal accident inquiry. The investigation of all deaths by the procurator fiscal, within the system for which the Lord Advocate is responsible, avoids duplication and ensures that all aspects of each death can be considered.

In August 2016 the independent Inspector of Prosecutions published a thematic inspection of fatal accident inquiries. The Inspector has confirmed that she will undertake and publish during the first half of 2019 a follow-up on her review of fatal accident inquiries. It will be for the Lord Advocate to consider that report when it is published.

While Police Scotland collects data in relation to behaviour at and around football matches and the Scottish FA and the SPFL collate data on unacceptable conduct inside football grounds, the Scottish Government does not directly monitor unacceptable conduct at football.

The Scottish Government is making good progress in its plans to meet its Programme for Government commitment and increase farm visits for school children in Scotland. Discussions have taken place with potential providers and proposals are being developed. We hope to be able to announce details of our plans shortly.