Fatal Accident Inquiries: Ministerial Accountability Board

Overview

This board has been set up to oversee and drive delivery of the recommendations and commitments made following the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay (also known as William Brown) at HMPYOI Polmont, which determined that their deaths were preventable.

The board was announced on 30 April 2025 and is expected to run until April 2026. It is intended to be temporary while a new and fully independent National Oversight Mechanism is set up over the coming year to oversee reforms for all deaths in custody.

The board helps make sure that:

• the necessary reforms are delivered at pace and to agreed standards
• those responsible for delivering the reforms are held to account
• promises made by the government, Scottish Prison Service and others are kept
• progress is tracked and problems are solved
• the right improvements are made to keep people safe

Discussions at the board take place within the context of its role to scrutinise progress, drawing on the professional experience and expertise of its members. These views do not necessarily represent the position of the Scottish Government.

Read the Cabinet Secretary’s updates to the Criminal Justice Committee: 

• December update
• May update

Related groups

• Justice: 2025 Fatal Accident Inquiry Review
• Deaths in Prison Custody Action Group

Members

• Sam Gluckstein, Head of the UK National Preventive Mechanism
• Professor Sarah Armstrong, Professor of Criminology at University of Glasgow, SCCJR researcher and co-author of ‘Nothing to See Here’
• Phil Wheatley CB, British prison officer, formerly the Director General of the National Offender Management Service and before that, the Director General of HM Prison Service
• Professor Nancy Loucks OBE, Chief Executive of Families Outside and co-chair of the Independent Review into Deaths in Prison Custody, Chair to the DiPC Family Reference Group
• Nicky Brown, Head of Service at PDSO (Public Defence Solicitors Office)
• Dr Sarah Couper, Public Health Scotland, lead consultant for mental health

The board is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs.

Publications