MSPs to debate Fatal Accident Inquiry review

Members of the Scottish Parliament will today question Lord Cullen on his recommendations for reform of the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) system.

The judge, who led the 2009 Review of Fatal Accident Inquiry legislation, will be giving his views to Holyrood’s justice committee during the first evidence session on the Inquiries Into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc (Scotland) Bill.

The bill’s main objective is to implement the recommendations made by Lord Cullen, including his proposal to allow discretionary FAIs into deaths of Scots abroad where the body is repatriated to Scotland.

The move could be complicated in practice, as foreign witnesses cannot be compelled to give evidence, and Police Scotland is wary of the potentially prohibitive cost of extending FAIs in this manner.

Christine Grahame MSP, convenor of the justice committee, said: “All proposed legislation should be subject to careful and considered scrutiny and that is especially important when it comes to issues of life and death.

“Given that the Bill aims to implement the recommendations of an earlier review carried out by Lord Cullen, we are pleased that Lord Cullen is able to come to the Committee to give members his views on the proposals to amend the existing legislation.

“We are also looking forward to hearing contributions from those who have campaigned over many years for change in this area – as a Committee we need to hear from those who have first-hand experience of the current system in order to be able to properly consider the measures in the Bill.

“This will be the first of a series of formal evidence sessions as we scrutinise this Bill and determine whether the proposed legislation will achieve its aims in improving the workings of the FAI system.”

Solicitor advocate Tom Marshall of Thompsons is to give evidence to the committee in a separate session on Tuesday 19 May.

Writing in this year’s Scottish Legal Annual Review, Mr Marshall, who represented relatives of the victims of the G-REDL helicopter crash at a Fatal Accident Inquiry, said: “It is to be hoped that we can attain a more robust, more responsive and more efficient system which will see inquiries held much more quickly.”

He added: “Above all the system must recognise the need for the recovery and preservation of evidence necessary for the resolution of all legal relationships affected by sudden and unexplained death.”