Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review Taskforce minutes: September 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

• Anna Donald, Chair, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government

• Deborah Demick, National Homicide Unit, COPFS

• Emma Forbes, Victims and Witnesses Policy Team, COPFS

• Faith Curry, Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit, COPFS

• Graham Grant, Police Scotland

• Katie Brown, COSLA

• Ann Hayne, NHS Lanarkshire

• Lorraine Hall, NHS Shetland

• Fiona Wardell, Healthcare Improvement Scotland

• Edward Doyle, Scottish Government/NHS Lothian

• Marsha Scott, Scottish Women’s Aid

• Iris Quar, Abused Men in Scotland (AMIS)

• Fiona McMullen, ASSIST

• Jessica Denniff, SafeLives

• Giri Polubothu, Shakti Women’s Aid

• Fiona Drouet, EmilyTest

• Khatidja Chantler, Manchester Metropolitan University

• James Rowlands, Durham University

• Sarah Dangar, City University of London

• Claire Houghton, University of Edinburgh

• Karyn McCluskey, Community Justice Scotland

• Tamsyn Wilson, Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Government

• Joanna MacDonald, Social Work Advisor, Scottish Government

• Graham Robertson, Public Protection Unit, Scottish Government

• Nel Whiting, Equality Unit, Scottish Government

• David Thomson, Equality Unit, Scottish Government

• Jeff Gibbons, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government

• Vicky Carmichael, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government

• Laura-Isabella Muresanu, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government

• Jude Thomson, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Emma Fletcher, NHS Tayside

• Ann Fehilly, ASSIST

• John Devaney, University of Edinburgh

• Kate Wallace, Victim Support Scotland

• Laura Mahon, Alcohol Focus Scotland

• Lynne Taylor, Directorate for Mental Health, Scottish Government

• Graham McGlashan, Scottish Law Commission

Items and actions

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Anna Donald (AD) welcomed members to the seventh meeting of the Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review (DHSR) Taskforce.  

AD reminded members that some of what would be discussed in terms of subject matter might be difficult and sensitive. Emphasising the importance of everyone’s wellbeing, she invited members to take time out and look after themselves as required. 

AD welcomed Lorraine Hall (LH), HR Director from NHS Scotland, who will be the Co-Chair of the Workforce and Training Task and Finish Group, and Graham Grant (GG), Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) and Head of Public Protection for Police Scotland, to their first Taskforce meeting.    

AD thanked Samantha Faulds, recently retired Detective Chief Superintendent and former Head of Public Protection in Police Scotland, for all the hard work and dedication that she brought to the work, to challenging violence against women and girls in Scotland, as well as her long and admirable service in the police force.

Members were asked to introduce themselves when first speaking during the course of the meeting and apologies were noted. 

Minutes and actions

The minutes of the seventh Taskforce meeting were circulated to members for comments and will be uploaded to the DHSR Taskforce webpage.

AD invited Vicky Carmichael (VC) to provide an update on the five actions from the previous meeting.

VC noted that actions A19, A24 and A25 have been completed, while A23, A26 and A27 are currently in progress.

Tamsyn Wilson (TW) noted that the Homicide in Scotland statistics for 2023-24 will be published at the end of October 2024, and Taskforce members may have an interest in seeing this new data.

Chair’s update

AD provided an update on the Year 4 legislative programme as this is reflected in the Programme for Government (PfG) 2024-25 that was published on 4 September 2024. AD noted that the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill is featured within the PfG legislative programme and that the Bill will shortly be introduced to the Scottish Parliament. The Bill will create a statutory underpinning for multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide reviews in Scotland.

AD remarked that the Bill is dual purpose. Part 1 of the Bill will make permanent some of the temporary measures that were put in place during the pandemic, where these have proved to bring longer term benefits to the criminal justice system and improve the experience of victims, witnesses, accused, and the wider legal community. Part 2 of the Bill will make provisions for reviews of the circumstances in which a domestic abuse-related or connected child or young person death has occurred, held with a view to lessons being learned. AD acknowledged everyone in attendance for all their hard work and contributions made to bringing forward the legislation.

Marsha Scott (MS) enquired about the circumstances in which the Lord Advocate would stop a review from taking place. MS also asked whether there is a plan to embed a post-legislative scrutiny within the Bill.

VC answered that one of the main reasons for which the Lord Advocate would pause or stop a review would be where there is a risk of jeopardising ongoing criminal proceedings, however, this would be avoided in most cases through the development of a protocol to mitigate against that. VC said that the embedding post-legislative scrutiny within the Bill would need to be considered further.

MS observed that the word ‘pause’ rather than ‘stop’ may be preferrable in this situation. Khatidja Chantler (KC) agreed.

Model Development Subgroup update

AD invited KC to provide an update on the work of the Model Development Subgroup.

Model Development Subgroup update

KC mentioned that between June 2024 – September 2024, the Model Development Subgroup met three times and discussed the following:

• The information necessary for review purposes and the approach option to be adopted for individual reviews

• The inclusion of children and young people within the scope of the review, current processes in relation to reviewing deaths of children and young people and children’s involvement in reviews

• The work to further refine what constitutes a ‘domestic abuse-related suicide’

• Consideration of the draft flowchart detailing the domestic homicide and suicide review process

• Review reports and their anonymisation

KC asked Taskforce members whether they are content to accept the Model Development Subgroup’s recommendation on the approach for undertaking individual domestic homicide and suicide reviews, namely that the ‘Individual Agency Review’ option is adopted. This approach is to be complemented by access to original case records, should such records be required, and the facilitation of learning events.

AD provided additional context to this recommendation from the discussion that took place during the previous meeting of the Taskforce, reminding members that three options were being considered: ‘Case Record Review’, ‘Individual Agency Review’, and ‘Facilitated Learning Event’.

Jessica Denniff (JeD) mentioned that it would useful to know how the Model Development Subgroup came to the conclusion that the ‘Individual Agency Review’ option is the preferable approach to be implemented. KC answered that feasibility was a key consideration in decision-making, noting that although the original case records have the advantage of providing a detailed account of what happened, they also have the disadvantage of being time-consuming to analyse and possibly the subject of strict GDPR considerations – especially where health or law enforcement data is concerned – which would further amplify the time required for processing and reviewing them. KC recalled some uneasiness around the possibility of agencies not providing an honest and transparent account when reviewing their own records, however, KC noted that from her research on domestic homicide reviews in England and Wales, the individual agency reviews are often very revealing in terms of any gaps in policy or practice. KC added that where there will be a concern from Individual Case Review Panels regarding a lack of transparency, then the full case records can be requested.

AD observed that it would be helpful to have some clarification on which criteria would determine that access to case records or the facilitation of a learning event is necessary,  and provide some examples of such circumstances.  

Edward Doyle (ED) remarked that in relation to health records, it is unlikely that there would be any agency which would release such records unredacted, given the sensitive nature of the information.

MS agreed that if individual agencies are not invited to review and reflect on their own practices, it is unlikely that there would be any substantial learning to be gained. MS emphasised the importance of how that learning would be used, and the need to embed an evidence-based approach in the implementation of learning to understand underlining behaviours and patterns. This would also involve the development of a mechanism for accountability and change to be reflected in all connected activities. AD observed that it would be useful for members to reflect on how such mechanisms could be embedded either in legislation or the statutory guidance.

JeD observed that the facilitated learning events could also bring an opportunity for family, friends, and loved ones to speak and reflect on the learning.

Katie Brown (KB) mentioned that as an officer representing COSLA, she will have to take the recommendations back to members for their views and to clarify COSLA’s position at this important decision point.

MS raised that she would rather call this process ‘domestic deaths reviews’, rather than ‘domestic homicide reviews’, with an objection to the use of the word ‘homicide’, given the gendered nature of such deaths. MS observed that it would be helpful if the name of the review model could be re-considered at a future point.

KC also invited Taskforce members to comment on the draft flowchart detailing the domestic homicide and suicide review process, either as part of this meeting or through further discussions with officials or the Chair/Deputy Chair of the Model Development Subgroup.

JR reflected that at the moment there is a dotted line to a facilitated learning event as an option available when undertaking reviews, and a new dotted line could be added to build-in additional scrutiny for each individual review as required. JR further mentioned that the flowchart section on 'meet' family should perhaps have stronger language, depending on how integral the family and others will be to the review process. Otherwise, the flowchart would currently indicate that family and friends are not necessarily going to be very involved. KC agreed with JR’s comment on the engagement with family and friends being central to this process.

VC raised that in terms of the structure of the model, a lot of work has been done over the past months, and there would be an opportunity towards the end of the year for the Model Development Subgroup to test the model as part of a workshop, with the support of Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA).

Domestic Abuse-Related Suicide Working Group update

Sarah Dangar (SD) provided an update on the work undertaken by the working group of the Domestic Abuse Related Suicide Group. SD noted that the group had met on 23 July 2024 for the second time. The group is continuing to refine the definition for ‘domestic abuse-related suicide’ and is discussing the key criteria that could be considered as part of this definition, namely the frequency, recency, and severity of domestic abuse. SD added that the wider group will have its first meeting in due course and a paper will be prepared for a subsequent Taskforce meeting to provide some context to these discussions.

Children and Young People Task and Finish Group update

ED noted that the Children and Young People Group met on 21 August 2024. The group considered existing child death review processes and the involvement of children in reviews. ED observed that the domestic homicide and suicide reviews will inevitably overlap in certain cases with both child death reviews and child protection learning reviews, and given that the domestic homicide and suicide reviews would be statutory, it remains to be discussed how these processes could be better coordinated to avoid duplication of work, as well as any fatigue for the professionals and families involved.

KC reflected that in relation to including the voices of children in the review process, it is important to understand how this is done as part of existing processes in Scotland, and this is something that the Children and Young People Group could take forward.

MS mentioned that Scottish Women’s Aid is currently working with child survivors of domestic abuse to help develop a more robust risk assessment process for courts, where child contact and visitation rights are concerned. MS observed that it would be necessary to consider this as part of the development of the review model.

Workforce and Training Task and Finish Group update

VC mentioned that the Workforce and Training Group has now been established and will be co-chaired by Lorraine Hall, Director of Human Resources and Support Services, NHS Shetland, and Dr James Rowlands, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Durham University. The group is due to have its first meeting on 31 October 2024. The group will be tasked with undertaking the work required to develop the appointment, performance, and training specifications for the membership of the Review Oversight Committee and Individual Case Review Panels that will be operating in the context of the Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review Model for Scotland.

Information Governance Delivery Group

VC mentioned that the Information Governance Delivery Group has now been established and will be chaired by Dr Duncan Alcock, Associate Medical Director and Caldicott Guardian at the State Hospital, with Deputy Chair Sarah Holmes, Head of Information Governance and Security Assurance at COPFS. The group is due to have its first meeting on 26 September 2024. The group will be tasked with the creation of a national framework and protocols for the appropriate application of information governance in the development and implementation of a Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review Model for Scotland. As part of this, the group will work on the development of the necessary impact assessments, privacy notices, information sharing agreements and protocols between organisations, as well as the development of secure storage and destruction of data or information.

Action 1: The Model Development Subgroup to present a paper to the Taskforce on the reasoning for adopting the ‘Individual Agency Review’ as an approach option.

Any Other Business (AOB)

VC presented and extended an invitation for Taskforce members and others with an interest in this work to attend the domestic homicide and suicide reviews event to be held at the Cairn for Margaret Hall in Holyrood Park on 25 September 2024.

Graham Robertson (GR) shared with members the story behind the Cairn: The thread about the tragic murder of Margaret Hall, a half-forgotten pile of stones in Holyrood Park and why it should be fully remembered.

Action 2: Scottish Government officials to circulate a calendar invitation for the event to be held at the Cairn for Margaret Hall in Holyrood Park on 25 September 2024.

Date of Next Meeting (DONM)

The next meeting will take place on Thursday, 5 December 2024, 14:00 to 16:00.