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) also states that the SPA should ensure that the ICVS 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 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 states that the committee will ensure reporting on the arrangements for, and feedback on custody from, the volunteers within 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 for the ICVS Scheme for the period April - June 2022 for consideration by the Committee.

Reporting quarterly to the PPC is also a part of a key consideration from the ICVS Management Review. The Management Review was delivered in Q1 2022 and highlights 5 key recommendations. The review was directed towards ensuring the ICVS takes every opportunity to continually improve, maximising the contribution of the Service to the Authority and those who work in or are detained in Police Custody. The review considered all of the enabling tools and processes that underpin the ICVS, including: (i) governance; (ii) quality of data; (iii) criteria/thresholds for recommendations; (iv) processes (i.e. Human Resources, Legal and otherwise); (v) training and (vi) supporting documentation/handbooks.

This report will also detail the emerging key considerations from the Management Review.