Part 2: Prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime Chapter 2: Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews Section 27: Notification of Secretary of State
This Section provides for the Secretary of State to receive a notification from a review partner if they become aware of qualifying circumstances in relation to a persons death, which include they are the likely relevant review partners.
	Subsection (1) provides that notification must be either that the review partner is under a duty to arrange an offensive weapons homicide review, that the review partner is not under that duty, or that the review partner has not been able to take a decision as to whether they are under that duty. By virtue of subsection (7) a review partner becomes aware of qualifying circumstances when they become aware of such facts as make it likely that the conditions in section 24(1)(a) (that the death was, or is likely to have been, a qualifying homicide) and section 24(1)(b) (the death occurred, or is likely to have occurred, in England or Wales) are satisfied in relation to the death, and they are one of the relevant review partners in respect of the death. Subsection (2) provides that the duty to notify does not, however, apply if when they become aware of qualifying circumstances, they are also aware that no duty to arrange a review arises because a review has already started or is taking place (see section 24(5)) or the death falls within a review set out in section 26.
	Subsection (8) provides that the notification to be made to the Secretary of State within one month of a review partner becoming so aware. Such a requirement is intended to ensure that consideration of whether a review is required begins promptly, in order that lessons and recommendations can be identified and acted upon quickly.
	It is recognised that in some cases it may not be possible to make a decision within one month, for example, in relation to whether a death meets the definition of a qualifying homicide, it may take time to verify the use of an offensive weapon. In such cases subsection (3) requires that the Secretary of State is notified once a decision has been made. Subsections (4) to (6) require additional notifications to be made to the Secretary of State in certain circumstances where a decision previously notified is reconsidered.