Background

Chapter 16 of the Police and Fire Reform Act states that the Independent Custody Visiting Scheme (ICVS) is to provide independent monitoring of Police Scotland custody to ensure that detainees are being treated fairly and in accordance with the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

(OPCAT). OPCAT recognises that people who have been detained are particularly vulnerable and require nation states to set up a national body that can support efforts to prevent ill-treatment in custody settings. This national body is called the ‘National Preventive Mechanism’ (NPM).

The UK NPM was established in 2009 to deliver the UK’s obligations under OPCAT and ensure regular visits to places of detention in order to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. It is made up of 21 independent public bodies that have a role to monitor places of detention across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Places of detention include police custody, prison, court custody, immigration and military detention, secure accommodation for children and places where people are detained under mental health legislation. NPM members have the power to enter places of detention and speak to detainees and staff in private

Chapter 16 of the 2012 Police and Fire Reform Act (Scotland) sets out the Authority’s requirement for the provision of an independent custody visiting service in order that visitors may:

- Visit detainees;

- Access information relevant to the treatment of detainees and conditions in which they are detained;

- Monitor the treatment of detainees and the conditions in which they are detained.

The act also states that the Authority’s arrangements must:

- Provide appointment arrangements for suitable persons to become a visitor;

- Authorise Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) to do anything which the Authority considers necessary to enable them to visit and monitor treatment of detainees and the conditions in which they are held;

- Provide for reporting on each visit;

- Keep the arrangements under review and revise them as it thinks fit; and

- Prepare and publish such reports on independent custody visiting as the Scottish Ministers may reasonably require.

The terms of reference for the Policing Performance Committee state that the Committee will ensure reporting from the Independent Custody Visiting in Scotland (ICVS) scheme is carried out publicly at least twice per year, including publication of the Authority's annual review of ICVS. This report seeks to fulfil this commitment and report a summary of the visits and the observations from the visitors within the ICVS Scheme for the period July – September 2022 for consideration by the Committee.