HM Inspector of Crematoria for Scotland: annual report 2015-2016

Background

The appointment of an independent Inspector of Crematoria for Scotland was one of the 64 recommendations in the Report of the Infant Cremation Commission ^[1] headed by Lord Bonomy, (June 2014) and whilst there was provision for such an appointment in existing legislation (Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 1935) it had not previously been implemented other than on an ad-hoc basis.

Terms and conditions for the newly created role were therefore broadly based upon the findings of the Mortonhall Investigation Report ^[2] by the Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini (April 2014) and that of Lord Bonomy, with the initial appointment being for the period 9 March 2015 to 31 March 2017.

The role was envisaged to be part-time with what was estimated at the time of appointment to require a commitment of 90 days per year. That however has been found to be unsustainable with current commitment and the post has, therefore, been confirmed as a full time post. A full breakdown of specific duties undertaken together with a summary of findings follows.

For ease of reading the duties have been broken down into the following 4 headings:

• Introductory Visits and Media Interest
• Meetings / Liaison with Stakeholders/ Working Groups
• Complaint Investigations
• Inspections and Findings