Reported incidents within prisons in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

“I am writing under the Freedom of Information act to request the following information (all written, emailed, recorded):

Under the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. And Care)(Scotland) Act 2016, organisational duty of candour statutory duty:

1. How many reported incidents have applied to incidents within prison establishments in Scotland (private and public), since the introduction of the Act.

2. How many of the incidents in 1. above have been deaths in prison custody by year they occurred and what outcomes came from these.

3. From the introduction of the Act, how many prosecutions against NHS boards have there been for failing in their statutory duty of candour?”

Response

The Scottish Government holds some of the information you requested. I have responded to your questions in turn below.

1. How many reported incidents have applied to incidents within prison establishments in Scotland (private and public), since the introduction of the Act.
This is not information the Scottish Government routinely collects, therefore, you may wish to contact the NHS Board specific to the prison or prisons you are interested in receiving information about. The Scottish Government is aware of one incident within a prison where the organisational duty of candour procedure was activated.

2. How many of the incidents in 1. above have been deaths in prison custody by year they occurred and what outcomes came from these.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) – personal data relating to a third party of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies is because it could lead to individuals being identified.

3. From the introduction of the Act, how many prosecutions against NHS boards have there been for failing in their statutory duty of candour?
There have been no prosecutions against NHS Boards for failing to comply with the organisational duty of candour legislation. There is no provision within the organisational duty of candour regulations to prosecute NHS Boards for failure to comply with the legislation; public bodies are expected to comply with the legal duties imposed on them. The emphasis of the legislation is to learn from when things go wrong and feed that learning back into the system to improve processes and patient outcomes.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.