Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Act 2025

Prospective

27 Reports on case reviews: content and preparation S

(1) A case review panel must prepare a report on each domestic homicide or suicide review it completes.

(2) A report must include—

(a) the dates, or approximate dates, of any events prior to the death in question which have been identified by the panel as being of significance,

(b) where the persons who are persons A and B for the purpose of section 12 in relation to the death in question were partners or ex-partners, a summary of—

(i) any significant relationships each of them had with others at the time of the death, and

(ii) any changes in the significant relationships each of them had with others in the period leading up to the death,

(c) information about any occasions when, in the panel’s opinion, an opportunity was either missed or taken to—

(i) safeguard those affected by abusive domestic behaviour, or

(ii) promote the wellbeing of victims of abusive domestic behaviour,

(d) the conclusions the panel has drawn from the review,

(e) the panel’s reasons for reaching those conclusions,

(f) any recommendations the panel has as a result of those conclusions.

(3) If the panel is unable to produce a unanimous report, the report must reasonably reflect the points of disagreement.

(4) Once the panel has prepared a report, the chair of the panel must submit the report to the review oversight committee for approval.

(5) On receipt of a report, the committee may—

(a) approve the report either without modification or with such modifications as it considers appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that the report is of satisfactory quality and accords with the review’s terms of reference, or

(b) direct the chair of the panel to resubmit the report with such modifications made to it as the direction specifies, and any further changes the panel considers appropriate, for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (a).

(6) Subsection (5) applies to a report which is resubmitted following a direction to do so as it applies to the originally submitted report.

(7) The chair of the panel and the chair of the review oversight committee may each share a draft report, or part of a draft report, with any person with whom the chair in question considers it appropriate to share the draft for the purpose of checking its accuracy.

(8) In relation to the sharing of a draft report (or any part of it) under subsection (7)—

(a) the chair in question’s taking of a decision as to whether to share material and, if so, the sharing of it must be carried out in accordance with the protocol produced under section 24,

(b) the person sharing the material—

(i) may redact or anonymise it as the person considers appropriate,

(ii) must, at the same time as sharing it, provide a copy of it to the Scottish Ministers for information, and

(c) the person with whom the material is shared under subsection (7) may not share it with any other person and must keep its content confidential unless and until it is subsequently published under section 28(1).

(9) The review oversight committee must provide a copy of a report approved under subsection (5)—

(a) in every case, to the Scottish Ministers, and

(b) where the review relates to the death of a young person or an adult at risk, to Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland.

(10) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision for or in connection with the resolution (by them, by such person as they appoint, or between the parties) of any disputes between the chair of a panel and the review oversight committee in respect of—

(a) any modifications which the committee proposes to make to a report under subsection (5)(a),

(b) any direction to resubmit a report which the committee gives under subsection (5)(b).

(11) In this section—

• “abusive domestic behaviour” means abusive behaviour by person A towards person B, within the meaning of section 12(2),

• “adult at risk” means a person whom the panel considers to have been, immediately prior to the person’s death, an adult at risk within the meaning of section 3 of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007,

• “young person” means a person—

  (a)

  who is under the age of 18, or

  (b)

  who—

  (i)

  is under the age of 26, and

  (ii)

  at some point has been looked after, within the meaning of section 17(6) or 17A(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, by a local authority.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 27 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 34(4)