National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland 2025

Ministerial Foreword

The Scottish Government’s Vision for Justice aims to deliver a just, safe and resilient Scotland in which people feel, and are safer in their communities.

We published the National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland in 2017 (the Framework), setting out roles and responsibilities of respective agencies and standardising key practice from a wealth of good practice across Scotland, while understanding that this issue cuts across all strands of vulnerability. The Framework's aim is to improve practice and enhance multi-agency working that helps and safeguards vulnerable people.

This refresh of the Framework follows on from the 2024 HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) Thematic inspection of police response to missing persons in Scotland. Police Scotland remain the key organisation to respond, investigate and locate a person who goes missing. HMICS are clear that Police Scotland’s response to missing persons is robust and effective and demonstrates consistent success in resolving missing person episodes.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Police Scotland for the excellent work they do every day to locate people who have gone missing but we must not assume that Police Scotland can do this work on their own. Many statutory and voluntary services work with people who go missing including child and adult protection, education services, NHS Scotland and third sector organisations. In 2017, the Framework provided guidance and placed value on multi-agency working between all agencies who work with people who go missing. This refresh restates that the importance of working together remains fundamental to preventing people from going missing and limiting the harm when they do.

It is clear that through Police Scotland’s response to missing persons and the joint working of many partners across Scotland, numbers of people going missing has reduced and crucially fewer people are going missing repeatedly. In 2017-18 Police Scotland conducted 22,966 investigations for people who were missing with one in two of those investigations for a person who had been missing previously. This has reduced to 14,670 in 2024-25 with a drop to one in three investigations involving a person who had previously been missing.

Of course many factors can play a part in the reduction of people going missing but increased multi-agency collaboration plays an important part and although figures remain high, we should all be encouraged that the work that is being done is helping reduce harm and trauma for people in Scotland’s communities. The HMICS inspection should be seen as an important milestone to now move forward.

This Framework looks to build on the multi-agency work conducted and developed, highlighting where good working practices have been implemented and emphasising the importance of developing a local multi-agency protocol, working together in partnership and raising the profile of the issues connected with people going missing.

It doesn’t propose to change policy direction from the 2017 National Framework or create new systems alongside those that already exist. Rather, its purpose is to ensure that, by identifying successful practice, and adapting it for different local areas, the impact of our existing systems and partnerships can be increased. It also sets out organisational roles and responsibilities to deliver the best outcomes possible for missing people. This remains a shared Framework; it has been enhanced using the developing practice of organisations and agencies working in this area over the last eight years.

I would like to thank the Working Group for Missing People who have continued to oversee the implementation of the Framework’s aims and provide guidance to Scotland’s two National Coordinators taking forward the Framework Implementation project.

Through the continued implementation of this Framework, families, friends and communities can be confident that, when people go missing in Scotland, the agencies responsible for finding them already work together to minimise the likelihood that they will come to harm. These same agencies are highly effective in resolving episodes as quickly as possible and provide - or guide people to - specialist services to support them and their families.

Siobhian Brown MSP