Consultation on the Letter of Rights for Scotland

The Letter of Rights is given to all suspects and accused persons held in police custody in Scotland.  To ensure the Letter of Rights continues to be fit for purpose, the Scottish Government gathered views on the content and language used in the Letter and the formats in which it is made accessible.

In total, 23 responses to the consultation were received, 15 from organisations and eight from individuals.  Of the organisations that responded, a large majority either represented the legal sector or provided advocacy around the legal sector (six) or represented and provided advocacy for individuals with various disabilities (seven).

Generally speaking, around half of respondents expressed views that the existing materials is easy to understand.  However, despite moderate approval of the Letter, scope was identified to improve the Letter further, with a diverse range of suggestions brought forwards for doing so, as well as views expressed on where the Letter is perceived as lacking clarity, or containing conflicting information.

The consultation responses have been carefully considered and published.  Only answers from respondents who gave permission have been published, however, all responses are included in the analysis of this consultation.

The Scottish Government will now seek to establish a working group made up of key stakeholders and linguistic experts to take forward reforms of the Letter of Rights, ensuring that the views expressed during this consultation process are properly captured.