National Preventive Mechanism Second Annual Report 2010–11 custody visiting in Scotland is not a statutory requirement.25 Instead, it is up to each police board to decide for itself whether to establish and maintain a custody visiting scheme in their area. In a best-value audit and inspection of Grampian Police and Grampian Joint Police Board, published in February 2011, HMICS noted that Grampian was the only area in the UK not to have an operational custody visiting scheme. Acknowledging the vital role that custody visitors play in raising standards in custody and ensuring the fair treatment of detainees, HMICS recommended that Grampian implement a custody visiting scheme as a matter of priority. A custody visiting scheme has since been established. In 2010–11, independent custody visitors regularly monitored the treatment of and conditions for detainees, reporting concerns to the police board. A key issue of concern to custody visitors is the length of time that detainees may be held. In exceptional circumstances – where there are public holidays on a Friday and the following Monday – it is possible that detainees may be held in police custody from Friday until Tuesday. Police custodial facilities are not generally appropriate for detention of this duration. As a result of concerns raised, consideration is now being given to opening courts at weekends, to reduce the length of time that detainees spend in custody. At a strategic level, custody visitors have been considering the potential impact of proposals to reform policing across Scotland. The Scottish government recently announced its intention to replace the eight police forces with a single Scottish force. As custody visiting schemes are currently organised according to police force areas, any reforms will have an impact on them. However, reform also offers an opportunity for the Scottish government to consider all aspects of policing, including police custody, and to place independent custody visiting on a statutory footing. Another important national development of interest to HMICS and the independent custody visitors, as well as the Scottish Human Rights Commission, was the ruling in Cadder v Her Majesty’s Advocate and its impact on detainees in police custody. In this case, the Supreme Court held that the law in Scotland which allowed suspects to be detained and questioned by police for up to six hours without access to legal advice was incompatible with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial).26 In response to this ruling, the Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) Scotland Act 2010 was introduced. The 2010 Act grants suspects a statutory right to legal advice while being questioned by police but also extends the six-hour period during which a suspect may be detained for questioning. While welcoming this legislative recognition of a suspect’s right to have effective legal assistance, the Scottish Human Rights Commission has nonetheless expressed concern that the 2010 Act has extended the period for which a suspect may be detained without charge from six to 12 hours and, in some cases, to 24 hours. The Commission was also concerned at the emergency nature of the legislation; the 2010 Act was introduced to the Scottish Parliament and 25 Although not statutory, custody visiting is supported by the Scottish government, both financially and through published guidance. 26 Cadder (Appellant) v Her Majesty’s Advocate (Respondent) (Scotland) [2010] UKSC 43. 28