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SNP MSP Christine Grahame has welcomed the publishing by Lord Cullen of details of the submissions received as part of the consultation into the Review of Fatal Accident Inquiry Legislation.
The Scottish Government appointed Lord Cullen to review the operation of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiries (Scotland) Act 1976. These inquiries govern the system of judicial investigation of sudden or unexpected deaths in Scotland. Ms Grahame has led calls for a review of the FAI system and said the consultation process was a major step towards reforming the process of judicial investigation. Ms Grahame said:
“I have been closely involved in a number of FAI investigations including the Pascal Norris, Stuart Foster and Irene Hogg cases amongst others. In 2007 I believed the time had come for a review of how these investigations were conducted amidst concerns from relatives about the time taken to undertake them.
“I am pleased that the Scottish Government is undertaking such a thorough review and I look forward to seeing Lord Cullen’s conclusions later this year on how the process can be improved and speeded up.”
Lord Cullen added:
"I published the consultation paper on 20 November 2008 in order to inform interested parties of the principal issues to be considered by the Review and to take their views on such issues. The paper did not set out a closed agenda. In fact, I made a point of welcoming suggestions as to other questions and options that were not mentioned in the paper.
“There was a strong response to the consultation and I am grateful to those who responded for their contributions. It is apparent that there is a desire for reform in some areas of the fatal accident inquiry system. However, I intend to look further into individual topics before proceeding to my conclusions later this year."
The report on consultation can be located at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/FAIreview.
NOTES FOR NEWS EDITORS
Report on consultation
1.Eightyfour responses were received from a wide range of respondents, seventy-nine of which responded to some or all of the questions set out in the consultation paper. The responses to the questions have been collated, analysed and considered. Most of these were received after the formal deadline of 20 February 2009, but those received within a month of that date have been considered by the Review. The respondents who agreed to their name being made public are listed in Appendix A of the report. The respondents broadly come under the following headings:
* The judiciary
* The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
* Lawyers
* Expert witnesses
* The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB)
* Investigators (police, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch)
* Relatives of the deceased
* Other interested parties (the Scottish Prison Service, Scottish Health Service bodies, local authorities and medical and health practitioner groups)
* Others (academics, charities, unions, Parliamentarians, the UK Government and other bodies and interest groups)
2.The nature of submissions varied widely: a small number of respondents provided just one word responses to a question, whereas the majority submitted detailed comments.
The consultation paper
3.The consultation paper asked questions relating to:
* General matters, which considered the purpose and features of an FAI under the Act; the forum in which it should be held; the procurator fiscal; and jurisdictional issues, such as deaths abroad and multiple deaths in more than one jurisdiction.
* The decision that an FAI should be held, which considered the categorisation of deaths for which an FAI is or may be required and the communication of decisions as to whether there should be an FAI.
* Holding an FAI, which considered cases in which it is decided that an application is to be made by the procurator fiscal for the holding of an FAI, so looks at delay; support of relatives; and legal aid.
* Evidence and procedure, which considered the way in which an FAI can examine the circumstances of the death with effectiveness, fairness and the minimum of delay, so looks at preliminary hearings; advance provision for evidential matters; signed and sworn statements; independent experts; assessors; and the admissibility of evidence.
* Determinations, which considered the determinations of sheriffs, such as the content of determinations; the use of determinations; the following up of recommendations, and the reviewing of determinations.
4.The Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 sets out the law on fatal accident inquiries in Scotland.
5.Around 14,000 deaths are reported every year. About half of them are investigated by the procurator fiscal as part of the work of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Since devolution between 35 and 80 fatal accident inquiries are held each year. Therefore, in practice an FAI arises only in a very small fraction of these cases. Since the Review relates to the system of judicial investigation, it is concerned with the work of the procurator fiscal only in so far as an FAI is or may be required.
FAIs
6.FAIs are public inquiries held in respect of fatal accidents, such as deaths of persons in the course of employment, in legal custody or sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths in circumstances giving rise to serious public concern.
7.The procurator fiscal investigates all sudden, suspicious, accidental and unexplained deaths to establish the cause of death and the circumstances which gave rise to the death. The procurator fiscal will decide whether any criminal proceedings are necessary or whether it would be appropriate to instruct an FAI. Only the procurator fiscal, under the authority of the Lord Advocate, can instruct an FAI which is a public examination of the circumstances of the death (though inquiries are mandatory in the case of deaths which occur as a result of an accident in the course of employment or in legal custody).
8.The purpose of an FAI is to establish the time, place and cause of a death. Such inquiries do not attribute blame or guilt in either the civil or criminal sense. The procurator fiscal leads evidence at the inquiry, which is held in the sheriff court. At the conclusion of the inquiry, the sheriff will issue a determination which will contain findings about the circumstances of the death. The sheriff may also make recommendations as to how such deaths may be avoided in future. These recommendations are not legally binding. Sheriffs make such recommendations in around a third of all FAIs.
The Rt Hon Lord Cullen of Whitekirk KT
9.Lord Cullen was called to the Scottish Bar in 1960 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1973, serving as an Advocate depute (Crown Counsel) from 1978 to 1981. In 1986 he was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice. He held office as the Lord Justice Clerk from 1997 until 2001, when he became the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General of Scotland. He retired from the latter offices in 2005.
10.He conducted public inquiries into the Piper Alpha disaster, the shootings at Dunblane Primary School and the Ladbroke Grove rail crash.
11.He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1997, a life peer in 2003 and a Knight of the Thistle in 2007. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by a number of universities. He is a former chairman of the Cockburn Association (Edinburgh Civic Trust), and a former member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, and of the University Court of Napier University. He is the President of SACRO, and of the Saltire Society, and the chairman of the board of The Signet Accreditation Limited.
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