Victim Notification Scheme (VNS): independent review

Section 11: How much is the VNS used?

In August 2021^[4] and January 2023^[5] the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans replied to Parliamentary Questions on the take-up rate for the Scheme as a percentage of all eligible victims. The two questions jointly asked for information from financial year 2018/19 to 2022/23.

The responses stated that the Scottish Government does not hold the data requested.

Figures were provided for registration information packs sent out by COPFS to victims as below:

2018-19 1880
2019-20 1788
2020-21 1158
2021-22 1674
2022 to 16 January 2023 1788

It was stated that eligible victims can register for the VNS at any time. Figures from the Scottish Prison Service for registrations by those years were as follows:

2018-19 443
2019-20 472
2020-21 306
2021-22 400
1 April 2022 until 31 December 2022 356

Our enquiries have established that more detailed information on the scheme is not recorded. It has thus not been possible to identify any meaningful data on the take up of the scheme as a proportion of eligible victims, or to identify data on reasons why victims may not elect to register or what influences their decisions on registration itself or when they apply. As discussed later in this report under 'Registration', we estimate that an annual volume of eligible cases could be around 2,700 per year, but it must be emphasised this is an estimate and may be subject to additional factors not taken into account in the calculation, such as a presumption against short sentences or a future increase in the use of community rather than custodial sentences.

Recommendation 3. Key data. Section 11.

We recommend that work be done to identify the key data for the VNS, to identify overall how efficient and effective VNS performance is and to ensure it is readily available to managers of the Scheme to continuously improve it and ensure it genuinely meets its purpose and serves victims as intended. User feedback should be included. This should be the key information in the published performance report by each of the agencies involved.