implementation of any recommendations can be monitored and reviewed; and contextual trends are identified e.g. prevalence of substance misuse. 9 THE STATUS OF A SIGNIFICANT CASE REVIEW RELATIVE TO OTHER LINKED INVESTIGATIONS 9.1 There may on occasion be reasons why a Serious Care Review cannot be immediately initiated or concluded, for example in circumstances where there is an ongoing criminal investigation or where there are links to a Fatal Accident Inquiry or Children’s Hearings proceedings. In all cases, criminal investigations will always take precedence. 9.2 To help establish what status a Serious Case Review (including the Initial Case Review) should have relative to other formal investigations, there should be ongoing dialogue with the police, Procurator Fiscal or others to determine how far the Serious Case Review process can proceed in certain cases. The Chair of the Strategy Group will be responsible for ensuring that the dialogue happens and for monitoring the progress of this. 9.3 The following issues should be given due consideration: how the separate processes are linked; avoidance of witness contamination; and avoidance of duplicate information being collected. 10 COMMISSIONING A SERIOUS CASE REVIEW 10.1 Only the Chair of the relevant Strategy Group has the authority to commission a Serious Care Review; referred to hereafter in this document as “the Review”. 10.2 The Review should normally be completed and a report on outcome presented to the Strategy Group that has commissioned the Review within six months. 10.3 Reviews will normally be undertaken by a Review Team (referred to hereafter as “the Team”) comprising individuals with qualifications, experience and knowledge which are pertinent to the case. Members of the Team would normally be drawn from the agencies that comprise the Safer Highland Partnership (see paragraph 15). 10.4 Wherever possible and appropriate, it would normally be good practice to involve the affected person’s family in the Review. After seeking advice from the professionals who are best acquainted with the person’s circumstances and those of
The Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) is responsible for supervising those individuals who have been appointed to manage the financial or property affairs of adults who lack the capacity to do so for themselves. The Parole Board for Scotland aims to ensure that those prisoners who are no longer regarded as presenting a risk to public safety may serve the remainder of their sentence in the community under the supervision of a social worker. Police Scotland was formally established on 1 April 2013 and is responsible for policing across the whole of Scotland. Procurator Fiscal A Procurator Fiscal (sometimes referred to as the PF or Fiscal) is a public prosecutor, working for the Crown Office, who investigates all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland and conducts Fatal Accident Inquiries / FAIs. ‘The Report’ refers to Serious Case Review Report (see above) The Reporter to the Children’s Panel is an official employed by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. All children and young people who may need compulsory measures of supervision must be referred to the Reporter. The main source of referrals is the police and Social Work, but other agencies such as health or education can make a referral, as well as any member of the public or the child him/herself. ‘Review Team’ refers to the Serious Case Review Team The Safer Highland Leadership Group brings together all the Strategy Groups in Highland that form The Safer Highland Partnership and undertakes a governance role. The Safer Highland Partnership is a partnership of all the Strategy Groups in Highland that are concerned with Public Protection issues in Highland Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) is a national body focused on children most at risk; established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 and became fully operational in 1996. See Reporter to the Children’s Panel. Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is the regulatory body for Scottish social services workforce. Serious Case Review The purpose of a Serious Case Review is to augment agencies’ own internal review and quality assurance processes. It will establish whether lessons can be learned, locally or more widely, from the circumstances of a case in terms of improving single agency and/or inter-agency working and better protect children and adults who are vulnerable or at risk of harm. The purpose is to review the effectiveness of single- and procedures and to inform, improve and develop best practice.