Scottish Government response to the FAI determination into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay (Brown): Justice Secretary's statement

Presiding Officer, first and foremost, I want to express my deepest condolences to the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay. I am deeply sorry for their deaths.

Suicide, yes, is a tragedy, but it is also preventable, and the deaths of these two young people should not have happened while they were in the care of the state.

Sheriff Collins has issued a comprehensive and hard-hitting determination that resonates deeply.

Presiding officer, accountability starts with acceptance. The Scottish Government accepts Sheriff Collins’ finding that these deaths were preventable and that there were systemic failures contributing to the deaths.

Those systemic failures require a systemic response. I hear and I fully understand the families’ demand for action and agree we must and we will take action.

Sheriff Collins has made 25 thoughtful and substantial recommendations. I accept those recommendations and commit to addressing in detail each and every one of those recommendations in our full and formal response. And I will report to Parliament again when we provide that.

Presiding officer, I will also set out to Parliament today six specific direct actions which will contribute to the system-wide reform that we must now take place.

I am determined to lead change across the Scottish Prison Service, the National Health Service and broader partners to take forward the necessary reforms; while many changes have already taken place, further improvements are needed at both operational and procedural level. And I also expect to see a cultural change in the way agencies work individually and collectively together.

To ensure we drive change and implementation and achieve the impact needed, we must also strengthen oversight and accountability. And this needs to be independent.

Starting now, we need oversight of the actions taken as a result of this determination, including those that I will set out today. I have therefore asked His Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons for Scotland to provide oversight and monitoring of implementation, and crucially to review the actions taken to ensure they are meeting the required outcome. I have asked the Inspectorate to involve families and prisoners, just as they should involve prison staff, and also seek other expert advice. The Inspectorate will report directly to me.

We also need independent national oversight in relation to deaths in custody. Work is already underway on this, but I will ensure that specific proposals are brought forward by March this year. Those proposals will strengthen accountability in relation to FAI recommendations, and also ensure thematic and systemic issues are identified and addressed, which will also inform and support work on prevention.

Presiding Officer, let me now turn to the actions. The first is in regard to the physical environment within prisons, focusing on ligature and risk assessments. Sheriff Collins stressed the need for greater recognition by SPS of the importance of ligature prevention and I can confirm SPS will urgently and immediately review and revise its policy on items that can be used as ligatures.

SPS has taken action to address and refurbish the physical environment and introduce trauma-informed training for staff, focussing on support for young people. They will do more by developing an anti-ligature risk assessment, which will further support work to ensure spaces can be as safe as possible.

In addition, the development of suicide prevention technology will be accelerated and if viable, piloted and reviewed.  

The second action relates to mental health services and information sharing. The Scottish Prison Service Suicide Prevention Strategy, Talk to Me, will be completely revised and overhauled.

William Lindsay’s case was sadly not unique. He was let down by many services before he arrived in custody and there were failings in sharing information about his needs. We need to ensure that this is never able to happen again. 

The Scottish Government, SPS, NHS and the Scottish Courts will work urgently and immediately to ensure that all of the written information and documentation available to the courts is passed to SPS at the time of a person’s admission to prison. A standardised approach to sharing relevant information from agencies will also be developed. 

The third action relates to Death in Prison Learning and Audit Reviews. These Reviews now include consideration of the safety of the prisoner’s physical environment and the means by which they were able to die by suicide, which was a specific recommendation made by Sheriff Collins. They also now allow for input from the families, following engagement with the Family Reference Group. But there is more we must do. I can therefore confirm the independent chairing of DIPLARs will now be extended to all deaths in custody with immediate effect. I can also confirm that the learning and key actions from these reviews will be available to those performing the independent national oversight role.

The fourth action relates to legal aid for bereaved families participating in Fatal Accident Inquiries. Currently, families are entitled to legal aid on the basis of means testing, with the majority of families receiving support. However, recognising the special significance of a death in custody, we will change the legal aid system to make legal aid free and non means tested in relation to deaths in custody Fatal Accident Inquiries. This will require primary legislation, and we will bring this forward at the earliest opportunity. Alongside this, I will also bring forward proposals in relation to family advocacy and support outside the formal FAI process.

 The fifth action relates to the FAI process. I agree with Sheriff Collins, amongst others, that the five years between the deaths and the First Notice of Inquiry was far too long.

It is clear the process is letting families down and the time taken for FAIs to start and conclude needs to be addressed.

I understand that the families don’t want another review. However, unless we can specifically look at the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole system, we will not see the improvements needed. I have discussed this with the Lord Advocate, who shares my view.

I am therefore commissioning a focussed, independent review of the FAI system, looking at the efficiency, effectiveness and trauma-informed nature of investigations into deaths in prison custody. I will ask the Chair to report to me by the end of this year, on the solutions and tangible actions that need to be taken.

Finally, whilst not in my gift to introduce, I will continue to pursue the lifting of Crown Immunity with the UK Government. I believe this should change in line with other public bodies.

Presiding Officer, we also need to take more steps to improve alternatives to custody.

Since I became Justice Secretary, I have said there needs to be a shift in the balance from custody to justice in the community. People who break the law must face consequences for their actions, and sometimes there is no alternative to the punishment of depravation of liberty. In other cases that can be done safely and more effectively in the community.

And let me be clear, people need to stop calling that soft justice. If we are in a mindset of saying that jail is the only option then we will never be able to stop the impacts on people, on families and society that imprisonment can cause, leading to further societal costs we all pay for.

I want to go further on community justice and to drive more innovation in this area. I visited Northern Ireland last year and heard first-hand about the positive impact that is being achieved by their system of Enhanced Combination Orders which enable judges to address offending behaviour through alternatives to custody, as well as providing for support and intervention to address the underlying drivers of behaviour. Examples like that, speak to the whole-system approach we need here.

I will come back to this Parliament with plans to strengthen our community order system. And I want this Parliament to remember this day when we do so.

Presiding Officer, like everybody here I do not want any preventable deaths in our prisons and there should be no suicides. We will, I can assure you, address the systemic failures identified by Sheriff Collins and strengthen oversight and accountability of the reforms that must be made.

I expect services to be provided within a culture of transparency, candour and compassion. That is particularly true in relation to all those in the care of the state. 

Accountability starts with acceptance. It doesn’t end there – accountability must also result in answers and action that lead to lasting change.

Presiding Officer, let me again extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of William Lindsay and Katie Allan and all the families affected by a death in custody.

I know they don’t want condolences, I know they don’t want hand-wringing. I know that it’s action that they want and they seek and it’s that action that we will deliver.

Thank you