Domestic homicide and suicide review standards
Document Type
Standards
Summary
The Scottish Government has commissioned us to work with stakeholders to develop standards which support a multi-agency and multidisciplinary response to domestic homicide and suicide.
The standards will be closely aligned to the work developed under the remit of the Scottish Government’s Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review Taskforce and the legislative framework of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 7 October 2025. Healthcare Improvement Scotland have previously published a report from stakeholder workshops on behalf of the Domestic and Suicide Review Taskforce and is a member of the Taskforce.
The standards development group is co-chaired by: Professor John Devaney Head of the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh and Dr Edward Doyle, Deputy Medical Director NHS Lothian who both have extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of domestic abuse and fatality review systems.
The development group includes strategic and operational expertise from across health, social care, justice and third sector. The work will be underpinned by the experiences of people with lived experience and families.
The draft standards are now published for consultation and we welcome your feedback.
Consultation survey
The consultation on the draft standards closes on 5 November 2026.
What we are consulting on
There are 10 standards within the draft which cover:
- leadership and governance of review process
- supporting bereaved people
- supporting bereaved children and young people
- domestic homicide and suicide review process
- combined deaths reviews and joint reviews
- reviews involving the death of a child or young person
- training and support for review members
- training and support for practitioners from participating agencies
- sharing knowledge and learning from reviews
- information governance
Consultation feedback
The final standards will be published in Spring 2027. A summary of the responses to the consultation will be made available on request. You can request them from the project team at his.standardsandindicators@nhs.scot
Help and support
If you have been affected by anything on this page and would like support you can contact the Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline.