SCJC Working Group - Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016
 
The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 received Royal Assent on 14 January 2016.  Legislative changes brought about by the Act, confer responsibility upon the Scottish Civil Justice Council for the review of practice and procedure followed in inquiry proceedings, including the drafting of inquiry procedure rules. 

This was a new policy area for the Council and so in 2016 it established a working group to take forward the legislative changes to court procedures for inquiries into fatal accidents and sudden deaths.

The working group’s remit was:
To consider the secondary legislation required to facilitate implementation of The Inquires into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 and to make proposals for draft inquiry procedure rules for consideration by the Scottish Civil Justice Council. 

Membership of the Working Group: 
Sheriff Principal Abercrombie (Chairman and SCJC member)  
Sheriff Hughes (SCJC member)
Sheriff G Liddle
Elizabeth Ross (COPFS)
Jillian Martin-Brown, Advocate
Rona Jamieson, Solicitor
Hamish Goodall (Scottish Government)
Jane MacDonald (SCTS)
Marie-Louise Fox (SLAB)
Alan McCloskey (Victim Support Scotland)  

Jackie Powell (SCTS ICMS Project Leader) observer. 

The working group meetings were held in Parliament House, Edinburgh between May 2016 - February 2017. Minutes and papers can be found below. 

The 2016 Act and the court rules (2017/103 Act of Sederunt (Fatal Accident Inquiry Rules) 2017), came into force on 15 June 2017