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 will be 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 will include 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.

Work to develop the scope for the standards is currently underway. The scope document will be published on this page for public consultation in January 2026.

For further information on the background to this project or standards development, please contact 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.