167.This section deals with the notification of deaths to the review oversight committee, so that they can be considered for review.
168.The chief constable of Police Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (“the PIRC”) are “notifying bodies” for the purpose of this section and, as such, must give written notice to the committee of any death of which they are aware and which they believe to be a reviewable death. When doing so, they must provide the Scottish Ministers with a copy of the notification.
169.The Scottish Ministers also have the power to make a written referral to the committee where they become aware of a death which is, or might be, a reviewable death and they know, from not having received a copy notification, that notice of it has not already been given by a notifying body. This might be relevant where, for example, a Scottish resident dies abroad and so the authority with responsibility for investigating the death and bringing any appropriate criminal proceedings is a foreign authority. It is accepted that the Scottish Ministers may have less information about deaths which they refer under this section, and so the threshold for referral is correspondingly lower. However, if the Scottish Ministers do make a referral, they must provide a copy of it to all notifying bodies. There is no restriction upon how the Scottish Ministers may become aware of a death in order to refer it to the committee – for example, they could become aware of a death abroad through diplomatic channels, or a friend or family member might contact Ministers with information seeking a review.
170.A notification or referral under this section is to include such information as the person making it possesses or controls which they consider likely to be of assistance to the committee for the purpose of its consideration under section 19(1) (i.e. checking that the death is in fact a reviewable one and then, if it is, determining whether a review should be held). Although the committee has information-gathering powers which it may need to exercise in connection with this consideration, this ensures that the committee is at least provided as a starting point with relevant information from the person making the notification or referral. As this information is to form part of the notification or referral, this means that it forms part of what must be copied to the Scottish Ministers or (as the case may be) a notifying body under subsection (1)(b) or (3).
Interpretation Notification of potentially reviewable deaths Section 17 – Notification of deaths