Victim Notification Scheme (VNS): independent review

Footnotes

1. We have noted an inconsistency here between the SPS and Scotgov websites. The SPS website for VNS makes no reference to hospital suspension certificates nor electronic tagging. It is also not clear that an electronic tag in this instance is for Home Detention Curfew, not community sentences.

2. Mygov.scot website: Victim Notification Schemes

3. Standards of Service Annual Report 2021-2022

4. Written question and answer: S6W-01768 | Scottish Parliament Website

5. Written question and answer: S6W-13756 | Scottish Parliament Website

6. Gov.uk information for victims of crimes committed by non-British citizens (foreign nationals)

7. The Scottish Ministers may by order amend this section by substituting for—

(a) the person for the time being specified in any part of this section to whom information may be made available such other person as they think fit,
(b) the age for the time being specified in any part of this section such other age as they think fit.

8. COPFS VNS Packs issued:

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

9. Correct at the timing of writing the timeline.

10. Recorded Crime in Scotland 2021- 2022, published 29 June 2022.

11. Scottish Government report on criminal proceedings in Scotland (2020-21)

12. Independent Review of the Victim Notification Scheme: terms of reference. Available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-review-of-the-victim-notification-scheme-terms-of-reference/

13. Available here: https://www.cypcs.org.uk/resources/care-and-justice-bill-consultation/

14. Available here: https://www.cypcs.org.uk/resources/victims-consultation/

15. Gerison Lansdown, UNICEF Innocenti Insight Centre, The Evolving Capacities of the Child. Available here: https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/evolving-eng.pdf

16. Scottish Government, Victim Notification Scheme: guidance for victims of crime, published 17 August 2018. Available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/victim-notification-scheme-guidance-victims-crime/

17. See General Comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence, and in particular Paragraph 20: "In seeking to provide an appropriate balance between respect for the evolving capacities of adolescents and appropriate levels of protection, consideration should be given to a range of factors affecting decision-making, including the level of risk involved, the potential for exploitation, understanding of adolescent development, recognition that competence and understanding do not necessarily develop equally across all fields at the same pace and recognition of individual experience and capacity."

18. See General Comment No. 12, paragraph 91: "The Convention recognizes the rights and responsibilities of parents, or other legal guardians, to provide appropriate direction and guidance to their children (see para. 84 above), but underlines that this is to enable the child to exercise his or her rights and requires that direction and guidance are undertaken in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child."

19. See our response to Question 1 of the Scottish Government's consultation. Available here: https://www.cypcs.org.uk/wpcypcs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/CYPCS-Response-Childrens-Care-and-Justice-Bill-Consultation-Bill-22.6.2022.pdf

20. Recorded Crime in Scotland 2021- 2022, published 29 June 2022.

21. Scottish Government report on criminal proceedings in Scotland (2020-21)