COPFS has spent £19,485.37 on locum forensic pathologists since April 2024.

Where forensic service providers in Scotland have instructed the use of a forensic pathology locum pathologist to provide assistance, for example to cover sick leave, the costs are not known but there has been no additional cost to COPFS.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the time-period in which people enter employment following support from the No One Left Behind Programme. However, the Scottish Government does collect data on the number of people entering employment and those that are still in employment at specific points thereafter - 4, 13, 26 or 52 weeks.

The most recent statistics indicate that of the 20,743 people supported through No One Left Behind that have entered employment since 2019, 8,657 (42%) were in employment at 4 weeks, 8,130 (39%) at 13 weeks, 7,102 (34%) at 26 weeks, and 4,227 (20%) at 52 weeks after entering employment.

Note that these figures are based on the percentage of all people that have entered employment who responded to the follow-up question. Therefore it is not a full or complete sample and we believe the data is therefore likely an undercount of the true figure.

The Scottish Government is actively reviewing this methodology following user consultation earlier this year to improve reporting on the duration of outcomes for No One Left Behind participants.

COPFS has spent £19,485.37 on locum forensic pathologists in Aberdeen since April 2024.

The following table shows the numbers of forensic post mortems conducted by two doctors that would normally have been performed in Aberdeen and that were transferred to Edinburgh. Some post mortems were also transferred to Dundee and Glasgow.

Only suspicious forensic post mortem examinations are being transferred from Aberdeen. Prior to October 2022, these were performed by forensic pathologists based in Aberdeen.

There are currently no forensic pathologists based in Aberdeen.

The certification of a person’s death is a matter that falls solely within the clinical responsibility of medical practitioners, who require to be satisfied to the best of their knowledge and belief as to the cause of death.

Following a post mortem examination, the pathologist will ordinarily certify the cause of death. In some cases, an ‘interim’ death certificate is issued by the pathologist indicating that the cause of death is unascertained until the results of further analysis - including but not limited to histopathology, toxicology and neuropathology - are obtained. This certificate allows the death to be registered and the body to be released to the family to allow funeral arrangements to be made. Once all analysis has concluded and the final cause of death is confirmed, the interim death certificate is then amended. However, in a small percentage of cases the pathologist is unable to determine a cause of death even after all such analysis is done.

We have identified 12 cases in 2023-24 where, following post mortem examination, the pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death and the cause was certified as ‘Unascertained’.

Where a pathologist is unable to determine a cause of death, they will include in their report as much information as possible about their findings to assist nearest relatives with possible explanations for the death having occurred. COPFS will provide that information to relatives when advising them of the final cause of death.

The Family Liaison Charter sets out the Crown’s obligations in relation to liaising with and providing information to bereaved relatives.

COPFS has established a Death Investigation Improvement Board with a number of workstreams, one of which is focussed on further expanding and improving the level of information provided to bereaved relatives in the early stages of investigations.

There is no backlog of post mortem examinations in Aberdeen and the majority of routine examinations are completed within agreed targets.

COPFS works closely with the Aberdeen mortuary team and locum pathologists to ensure that any issues with service delivery are highlighted and resolved as quickly as possible with the minimum of impact to bereaved families.

In order to manage resources across parliamentary staff teams and the campus on busy business nights – as well as the impact on Members’ diaries – agreement was given by the Corporate Body to limit the number of Member-sponsored events accordingly.  The Events and Exhibitions Team currently deliver and support a maximum of between nine and ten Member-sponsored events weekly on behalf of Members, with two of those slots being for Thursday lunchtime events. 

The SPCB can confirm that temperatures will be maintained to allow building users to work comfortably within their specific work areas.

We are aware that the temperature in the building recently was below comfortable levels.

We are currently undertaking a major replacement project for the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) which controls and monitors the heating, ventilation, and cooling throughout the building. The outside temperature had taken a sudden dip; this was the first time the new controls were stress tested. We had expected the building to react more quickly to the drop in temperature; clearly this was not the case. The parameters have now been adjusted to take this into account and a faulty external sensor has been re-calibrated.