Prompt conclusion of Sheku Bayoh inquiry in the public interest, says Forbes

It is in the “public interest” the Sheku Bayoh inquiry comes to a conclusion “promptly” the Deputy First Minister has said.

Ms Forbes appeared before Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee on Tuesday, which is carrying out an investigation into the cost effectiveness of public inquiries.

Speaking on the length of time the Bayoh inquiry has taken, she said: “My strong unwavering view is that it is in the public interest for the inquiry to come to a conclusion promptly.”

The inquiry started in 2020 to investigate the death of Mr Bayoh after he was involved in an altercation with police officers in Fife in May 2015.

Lord Bracadale resigned as chairperson of the inquiry last month after the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) repeatedly questioned his impartiality.

Ms Forbes told the committee she believes restarting the inquiry process after the resignation of the chairperson would be “counterproductive”.

She said: “The Sheku Bayoh inquiry was set up to get answers on his death for his family… and to identify lessons and improvements for the future.

“That inquiry has now run for several years. It was moving towards closing statements and then focus on drafting the report.

“If memory serves me… there’s approximately 120 days’ worth of evidence and, I think, if the committee care so strongly, as you obviously do, about value for money it is really important that that evidence is used to inform a report.

“And restarting a process, whatever that process looks like, I think, would be counterproductive if we want this to come to a conclusion in a way that carries the confidence of parties.”

Between 2007 and September 2025, the overall bill for the cost of inquiries stood at £258.8 million.

That total, which covers five ongoing public inquiries as well as five that have been completed, is up by £28.8 million from December 2024, data from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) showed.

Speaking at the committee, Ms Forbes said she was “not coming here in a way of defensiveness and welcomes the inquiry.”

When asked by Scottish Labour MSP Michael Marra if she thought the £258.8 million bill for the inquiries is “too high”, Ms Forbes responded:  “I can tell you how I could spend that money in other ways and I could identify ways in which we could support victims.

“We could implement recommendations and we could avoid a lot of the harm that is the subject of some of these inquires.

“Having said that, I think, one of the hallmarks of open, transparent democracy is that there is a place for independent thorough review of the facts, importantly independent of ministers.

“When answering the question of how I could otherwise spend that, it all comes back to ministers making decisions and it’s really important that, at times, there is a mirror that is held up independently of ministers on what has actually happened.”