Written Question · S2W-19185 · Session 2
Under what statutory authority it is withholding from the public domain the 106 productions to the public inquiry by Lord Cullen into the s…
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive under what statutory authority it is withholding from the public domain the 106 productions to the public inquiry by Lord Cullen into the shootings at Dunblane primary school which are subject to a 100-year closure order.
The answer
On the issue of statutory authority, I refer to the answer to question S1W-34924 on 18 March 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa/search.
However, in line with the commitment that I gave in November 2004, officials of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have completed the review process and have attended to the required editing of those documents. The redacted documents will be deposited with the National Archives of Scotland this week and will be available for inspection by members of the public from Monday 3 October 2005.
The editing involved the removal from the documents the names of living individuals and replacing with individual designations, such as “Witness 1” or “Child A” to preserve anonymity but ensure that the edited documents would still make sense to any reader. The process of simply removing an individual’s name, in some documents, did not preserve anonymity. It was also considered that some of the documents contained distressing information about the victims and it is therefore not possible for each and every document to be released, even in an edited manner. The Closure Order in respect of files one to four will therefore remain in place for the specified period of 100 years. Files one to four contain profiles, photographs, medical reports and post mortem reports of the injured and deceased respectively. All of the other documents, in their redacted format, will be made available to the public.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa/search.
However, in line with the commitment that I gave in November 2004, officials of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have completed the review process and have attended to the required editing of those documents. The redacted documents will be deposited with the National Archives of Scotland this week and will be available for inspection by members of the public from Monday 3 October 2005.
The editing involved the removal from the documents the names of living individuals and replacing with individual designations, such as “Witness 1” or “Child A” to preserve anonymity but ensure that the edited documents would still make sense to any reader. The process of simply removing an individual’s name, in some documents, did not preserve anonymity. It was also considered that some of the documents contained distressing information about the victims and it is therefore not possible for each and every document to be released, even in an edited manner. The Closure Order in respect of files one to four will therefore remain in place for the specified period of 100 years. Files one to four contain profiles, photographs, medical reports and post mortem reports of the injured and deceased respectively. All of the other documents, in their redacted format, will be made available to the public.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-19185 by reference.