VITAL lessons that could be learned from tragedies are coming too late to save others, Willie Rennie has warned, as it emerged some official inquiries take eight years to report.
At First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish LibDem leader raised an infamous crash on the M9 four years ago as an example of the cruelly slow pace of fatal accident inquiries (FAIs).
John Yuill, 28, and his partner Lamara Bell, 25, died after his car crashed near Stirling in July 2015, and police failed to respond for three days despite a call being made to them.
Once officers arrived, Mr Yuill was found to be dead and Ms Bell died later in hospital.
Mr Rennie said: “New information suggests that John Yuill could have survived if the police had responded to an emergency call in time. The accident happened four years ago and there is still no fatal accident inquiry.”
READ MORE: Probe into four-year-old M9 crash tragedy delayed
He said the family were not alone in waiting years for an FAI, with research from his party indicating some have waited up to eight years.
Mr Rennie asked: “Can the First Minister tell these families why on earth is it taking so long for these families to get the answers they deserve?”
Nicola Sturgeon expressed her “deepest sympathies” to the families of the victims and said what happened in the M9 case was “unacceptable”.
She added: “There has been a great deal of investigation and lessons learned will be applied for the future.”
She said the decision to hold an FAI and the timescale of it is a matter for the Lord Advocate, acting independently of Government.
“Depending on the circumstances of a case, and I’m not talking about any particular case here, a death investigation can be complex, technical and it can often involve a number of different agencies,” she added.
Ms Sturgeon said the Crown Office had admitted that in some cases the time taken for the sheriff-led investigations has been too long, and her Government had provided extra money to help reduce this.
She added: “It is in the interests of everyone that investigations and inquiries take place as quickly as possible but it is also important that the right processes are followed.”
Mr Rennie replied: “I understand that. However, how can any lessons have been learned when it takes years to get the answers?”
He said looming wage cuts for some police call handlers had led to morale hitting rock bottom and a risk that experienced people might quit, hurting the quality of service.
He urged the First Minister to “step in to prevent these damaging changes”, which he said would lead to some police staff losing thousands of pounds a year.
Ms Sturgeon said the changes were still under discussion and most staff would get a pay rise.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “Representatives from the Crown Office recently met with the families of John Yuill and Lamara Bell to update them on progress with the investigation.
“Detailed and complex enquiries have been carried out and that work is ongoing, and as such it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
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