Custody inspection report - Forth Valley

During the course of 2022, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) collaborated on a baseline review of the provision of healthcare services to police custody centres across Scotland. A report outlining our findings and recommendations was published in January 2023. We used learning from the review to develop a framework to inspect healthcare services within police custody, and to devise a methodology for the joint inspection of police custody centres.

Following our completion of the baseline review we commenced a programme of joint custody inspections and, to date, have published seven custody inspection reports. The findings from these can be found on our website. We have also recently published a revised version of our custody inspection framework, which can be found here. It outlines the quality indicators that form the basis of our custody inspections. This report relates to our inspection of the only primary custody centre in the Forth Valley division area, which is at Falkirk Police Station.

The inspection was carried out by HMICS and HIS, the aim of which was to assess the treatment of, and conditions for, individuals detained at the custody centres. This report provides an analysis of the quality of custody centre operations as well as the provision of healthcare services in the custody centre.

The onsite stage of the inspection took place in February 2025. As part of our inspection, we reviewed the Police Scotland National Custody System (NCS) and examined a representative sample of detainees processed at the custody centres during November 2024. We assessed the physical environment, including the quality of cells, and observed key processes and procedures relevant to police custody operations. We also spoke with people detained at the custody centre and interviewed custody staff and healthcare professionals during our visit.

While we have made no new recommendations regarding custody centre operations for Police Scotland in this report, we have outlined our concerns regarding several issues, which despite previous recommendations, were also evident during this inspection. This elevates our concern regarding a lack of pace in addressing previous recommendations with national relevance.

As such, we found a lack of consistency in the recording of information on the NCS. While some aspects of custody centre operations were recorded well, such as the recording of information relating to criminal justice decisions, we saw consistent recording errors regarding movements, meals, provision of legal rights, handovers, healthcare consultations, care plan rationale and grounds to delay release. We have continued to find disparities, in some cases, between the risk assessments undertaken and the corresponding care plans put in place to mitigate risk.

In addition, we found limited evidence of quality assurance checking of operational practice taking place, which has been a recurring theme in our previous reports. We have also highlighted the need for increased line management presence within custody centres to monitor and influence the quality and consistency of custody centre operations.

We have outlined the recommendations made in previous reports in respect of these issues and would stress that they have equal relevance for the custody centre at Falkirk.

We found the provision of healthcare within the custody centre to be generally good, and that it was being delivered by way of an established and well-managed model. We have however, made recommendations for improvement in respect of prescribing processes, training for staff on the use of compliance aids, and adherence to MAT standards.

We wish to thank the officers and staff of the Criminal Justice Services Division of Police Scotland, as well as staff from NHS Lothian, which is responsible for the overall management of healthcare at Falkirk custody centre.

The custody inspection programme is overseen by Ray Jones, Lead Inspector at HIMCS, with support from HMICS Associate Inspectors and HIS Inspectors.

Craig Naylor
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary
July 2025