Patient Safety Commissioner role: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. When the Scottish Government finally appoints a Patient Safety Commissioner will this individual have full regulatory powers to bring about a criminal investigation should the need for one arise?
2. Who will the Patient Safety Commissioner be accountable to?
3. Has anyone been interviewed at any point for this position?
4. What will the expected salary be for this position?
Response
The answer to your questions 1 and 2 are:
1. The Patient Safety Commissioner will be appointed by the Scottish Parliament. They will not have the powers to bring about criminal investigations. As detailed in section 8 to 11 of the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Act 2023, the Commissioner will be able to carry out their own investigations into health care safety issues where they feel there is a necessity to do so. As part of such investigations the Commissioner can require information from any person which may be relevant to the investigation. They must prepare a report of the investigation which must contain recommendations in light of the investigation’s findings. Where recommendations are addressed to a particular organisation that organisation must provide a response. There is no mechanism in statute for the Commissioner to bring about criminal investigations.
2. The Patient Safety Commissioner is a Parliamentary Commissioner and will therefore be accountable to the Scottish Parliament.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in questions 3 and 4. However you may wish to contact the Scottish Parliament at info@parliament.scot who may be able to help you. The reasons why we do not have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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