By Bill Heaney
Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie MSP has today criticised the Scottish Government for continuing to stand by its broken Fatal Accident Inquiry system, after the Justice Secretary refused to commit to any review or reform of the system.
Following the completion of the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill nine years after their car crashed off the M9, Mr Rennie wrote to the Justice Secretary Angela Constance to ask whether the Scottish Government would finally commit to proper reform of the FAI system.
In her reply, the Justice Secretary indicated that the Scottish Government “have every confidence in the system that is in place for FAIs” and will not be conducting any review or reform.
LibDem MSP Willie Rennie and SNP Justice Secretary Angela Constance.
Due to the lengthy delays in publishing the FAI report into M9 crash, there were no recommendations for future actions as Police Scotland had already changed its procedure over the past nine years.
Mr Rennie said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that the Scottish Government continues to stand by its broken Fatal Accident Inquiry system.
“Between the deaths of Ms Bell and Mr Yuill and the completion of this FAI, nearly nine years have passed. In that time, we have had three Lord Advocates and three First Ministers. It is simply unforgivable to leave families without answers for such an agonising length of time.
“These delays can seriously undermine the quality of the FAI itself. In this case, the time taken to complete the FAI prevented the sheriff from making recommendations. As a result of this decade-long exercise, no lessons have been learned.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have been consistently calling for far-reaching reform of fatal accident inquiries. We want to see FAIs removed from the remit of the Crown Office and handed to a new body charged with ensuring that inquiries begin within a year and that results are presented in a timely fashion.”