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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.

Pupil Equity Funding has been a policy of the Scottish Government since 2017-18.

In terms of Section 4 of the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016, an Inquiry is to be held if the Lord Advocate considers that the death was sudden, suspicious or unexplained, or occurred in circumstances giving rise to serious public concern, and decides that it is in the public interest for an inquiry to be held into the circumstances of the death.

Detailed guidance is also available for COPFS staff to assist them in identifying cases where it may be appropriate for a discretionary Fatal Accident Inquiry to be held.

The views of the nearest relatives about the holding of an Inquiry will always be taken into account, although the decision is ultimately for COPFS to make.

In relation to concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries where the Determination was published in 2024-25, 74% featured public bodies as interested parties. The public bodies were as follows: Scottish Prison Service (53% of all FAIs), NHS boards (50%), Prison Officers’ Association of Scotland (17%), Police Service of Scotland (6%), Scottish Ambulance Service (4%), Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, The British Army and the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland (all 2%).

In relation to concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries where the Determination was published in 2023-24, 80% featured public bodies as interested parties. The public bodies were as follows: NHS boards (51% of all FAIs), Scottish Prison Service (46%), Prison Officers’ Association of Scotland (20%), Police Service of Scotland (9%), Scottish Ambulance Service, Health and Safety Executive and Home Office (all 3%).

In relation to concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries where the Determination was published in 2022-23, 62% featured public bodies as interested parties. The public bodies were as follows: NHS boards (50% of all FAIs), Scottish Prison Service (45%), Prison Officers’ Association of Scotland (24%), Police Service of Scotland, Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Glasgow City Council, Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Orkney Islands Council and the Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus (all 2%).

The delivery of school education including the implementation of 2017 non-statutory guidance on religious observance (RO) is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government's current proposals to amend the legislation on RO in schools propose to bring legislation into line with the current guidance regarding taking account of children and young people's views when a parent/carer is exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO.

Where a child or young person requires a co-ordinated support plan, education authorities have a legal duty to have arrangements in place to identify this need.

As part of our work through the ASL Action Plan, we are developing national professional learning resources and accessible information and guidance on CSPs for children, young people, parents and carers. We are committed to including further clarity on the relationship between the CSP and other education plans, within a staged intervention model. This will be set out within the refreshed Additional Support for Learning Code of Practice.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have provided some of the information requested. According to SFRS data since 2009-2010 there have been a total of 39 lithium-ion battery related fires and incidents in purpose-built flats, converted flats and tenement buildings.

SFRS aims to capture additional data, via their Incident Recording System on any fires, suspected or confirmed, relating to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. There is ongoing work being undertaken by the SFRS led Electrical Infrastructure Working Group to better understand the risks to communities from fires linked with lithium-ion batteries.

COPFS holds records of all concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries dating back to 1 April 2013.

For that period, the longest duration from the date of death to the conclusion of the Fatal Accident Inquiry was in relation to the FAI into the death of Boguslaw Kopec. The date of Mr Kopec’s death was 13 March 2011. A First Notice commencing the FAI process was issued on 24 August 2020 and the Inquiry commenced on 9 November 2020. Evidence was concluded on 3 December 2020 and the Sheriff’s Determination was published on 11 March 2021.

The investigation into Mr Kopec’s death was hampered by difficulties tracing and obtaining the evidence of essential witnesses. In addition, Inquiry proceedings could only be commenced after criminal proceedings had been ruled out. Nevertheless, the Crown at that time acknowledged that the time taken to conduct its death investigation in this case had been far too long and apologised for the fact that its investigation and the Inquiry proceedings were not concluded sooner.

COPFS has significantly reformed its processes in recent years to improve the quality of death investigations and reduce the time taken to investigate deaths and bring FAIs to court. However, in some cases FAIs have taken too long to commence and we understand the impact that waiting for investigations to conclude has on families.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme provides £20,000 bursaries for career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in the hardest to fill teaching subjects. These subjects include: Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Chemistry and Home Economics.

Statistics on the employment of probationer teachers by subject and employment type are published in the post-probationer teacher employment dashboard, available through the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-probationer-teacher-employment-dashboard/

Statistics on pupil teacher ratio at local authority and sector level are published annually the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Statistics prior to 2004 are not available.