Terms of reference

The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody will:

• Act as the primary source of independent advice to ministers and service leaders (both through the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody and where appropriate directly) on measures to reduce the number and rate of deaths in custody.
• Consult and engage with relevant stakeholders in order to collect, analyse, and disseminate relevant information about deaths in custody and the lessons that can learned from them.
• Commission relevant research.
• Carry out thematic enquiries into areas of concern, in co-operation as appropriate with the relevant oversight and investigative bodies.
• Issue formal guidance (and where appropriate set common standards) on best practice for reducing deaths in custody, both on its own authority and where appropriate under the authority of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody.
• Monitor compliance with such guidance and standards.
• Where appropriate, make recommendations to Ministers for changes in policy or operational practice, which would help to reduce the incidence of death in custody.