Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016

57 Code of practice about investigative functions

(1) The Lord Advocate must issue a code of practice on—

(a) the questioning, and recording of questioning, of persons suspected of committing offences, and

(b) the conduct of identification procedures involving such persons.

(2) The Lord Advocate—

(a) must keep the code of practice issued under subsection (1) under review,

(b) may from time to time revise the code of practice.

(3) The code of practice is to apply to the functions exercisable by or on behalf of—

(a) the Police Service of Scotland,

(b) such other bodies as are specified in the code (being bodies responsible for reporting offences to the procurator fiscal).

(4) Before issuing the code of practice, the Lord Advocate must consult publicly on a draft of the code.

(5) When preparing a draft of the code of practice for public consultation, the Lord Advocate must consult—

(a) the Lord Justice General,

(b) the Faculty of Advocates,

(c) the Law Society of Scotland,

(d) the Scottish Police Authority,

(e) the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland,

(f) the Scottish Human Rights Commission,

(g) the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland, and

(h) such other persons as the Lord Advocate considers appropriate.

(6) The Lord Advocate must lay before the Scottish Parliament a copy of the code of practice issued under this section.

(7) A court or tribunal in civil or criminal proceedings must take the code of practice into account when determining any question arising in the proceedings to which the code is relevant.

(8) Breach of the code of practice does not of itself give rise to grounds for any legal claim whatsoever.

(9) Subsections (3) to (8) apply to a revised code of practice under subsection (2)(b) as they apply to the code of practice issued under subsection (1).