Victims Taskforce papers: June 2024

Improvements to services and support for child victims and witnesses (paper 5)

Purpose 

1. This paper to the Victims Taskforce provides an update on legislative and non-legislative work to improve how children affected by crime experience the justice system. 

Background  

2. During the last meeting of the Victim Taskforce, members were invited to consider potential areas warranting a more comprehensive exploration in upcoming meetings. Following the meeting, members highlighted the need for attention towards ongoing work aimed at improving the journey of child victims and witnesses within the justice system. 

3. Many aspects addressed in this paper offer a more in-depth examination of areas outlined in prior update papers and contribute directly to, or are linked to, the two Victims Taskforce workstreams of a Victim Centred Approach and Trauma Informed Workforce. 

Areas of Work:

Bairns’ Hoose 

Background  

4. Bairns’ Hoose, based on the Icelandic model ‘Barnahus’, provides Scotland with an opportunity for transformational change through a child-centred, trauma-informed approach for children and young people who are victims of, or witnesses to, significant harm, to improve their right to justice, care and recovery. Services will be co-located, reducing the need for multiple interviews by different agencies in different locations, which we know can be retraumatising.  

5. Our Vision is that all children in Scotland who have been victims of, or witnesses to, abuse or harm, as well as children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused significant harm or abuse, will have access to trauma informed recovery, support and justice. To achieve this, we are taking a phased approach to implementation to create a system that works nationally. This allows time to build in the learning and evaluation needed to ensure that the Bairns’ Hoose model is achieving the correct outcomes and is aligned with other key policy objectives. The first phase of our phased approach was launched in October 2023 with the announcement of six Pathfinder and four Affiliate partnerships.  

Pathfinder Phase 

6. The launch of the Pathfinder Phase was a significant milestone for the development of Bairns’ Hoose. We are working collaboratively with all selected partnerships as they trial the Bairns’ Hoose Standards in different geographical and service models, providing learning from a range of contexts which will allow us to understand and address the complexity of the required systemic change. The Scottish Government has supported this with an investment of £3.6m in 2023-24 with approximately £6m of further investment expected this year. 

Ongoing Work 

7. Although stages and approaches vary between partnerships, the main focus of the work since the launch of the phase has been on further development of partnerships across Local Authorities, Police Scotland, Health and the third sector, carrying out building work, consultation and staff recruitment. A key criteria of becoming a Pathfinder was the commitment to meaningful involvement of children and young people, with lived experience of child protection and justice processes, in the design and delivery of the Pathfinder work which is a key focus and priority across partnerships’ activities.  

8. Engagement between Scottish Government and the partnerships is ongoing with a number of in-person and virtual events delivered. The partnerships are being supported by an Improvement Advisor and a single point of contact from the Bairns’ Hoose Unit and have access to a Knowledge Exchange Forum and a variety of themed webinars and Q&A sessions developed to share learning as well as national and international research and good practice. 

9. Pathfinder partnerships completed their Standards Self-Assessment and Readiness Tool in February 2024. The tool was developed to gather evidence to help understand the starting position of each Pathfinder and to provide a structured opportunity for areas to reflect on their current service and identify areas for action.  

Monitoring Progress and Outcomes 

10. The aims of the Pathfinder partnerships are to trial and test the Bairns’ Hoose Standards within their own contexts; learn what works in different contexts; identify challenges and produce knowledge about the methods, practices and resources required for implementation. The Pathfinder phase analytical approach supports these aims by focusing on implementation and process, in order to document the journey to becoming a Bairns’ Hoose. This will be followed by a formal evaluation during later phases of implementation. 

11. Given the variety of starting positions within the Pathfinder partnerships, it is too early to report on outcomes. One of the strands of the Pathfinder analytical approach is to coproduce a set of Performance Indicators for all Pathfinder areas. The intention is for Pathfinders to collect and report these back to Scottish Government at the end of the Pathfinder phase, to establish baseline data for the roll out of the model. 

Children and young people engagement 

12. Input from children, young people and their families is at the forefront of shaping Bairns’ Hoose, including during Standards development and in the selection of Pathfinder partnerships. In both processes, the participation and engagement of children and young people with lived experience of child protection and justice system was facilitated by link workers, who engaged with different groups of children in a variety of methods which were developed and tailored to the needs of the children. 

13. In June 2023, we published our Children and young people: participation and engagement plan which sets out our approach to participation and engagement, and the actions we will take. As part of realising this engagement plan, we are working closely with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to support the Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinders in developing and delivering the Children’s Charter relating to engagement with children and young people.  

14. In addition, we are progressing conversations with Children 1st to build on their successful Bairns’ Hoose Changemakers project in North Strathclyde, and consider how this learning and progress in engaging children and young people in the development of local Bairns’ Hooses can be developed further in other partnership areas. We are also engaging in conversations with Scottish Government colleagues who have created the Children and Young People engagement framework, to scope how this can be used going forward to build on this engagement. 

What’s next 

15. With the Pathfinders work, we have started to improve the experience of children, young people and their families in the justice, care, and recovery services.  We will continue to work collaboratively with Pathfinders, Affiliates and other partners as we develop knowledge about how the Standards work in practice in different contexts to enable the design of a national Bairns’ Hoose model (the what) and required support (the how). 

16. Following feedback from stakeholders including Pathfinder and Affiliate partnerships, Ministers have agreed to a two-year extension to the Pathfinder phase of Bairns’ Hoose development. The extension intends to allow more time to effectively embed new models of transformative change and aid appropriate adaptation and learning from the trialling of the Bairns’ Hoose Standards in partnerships across Scotland.  

Scottish Child Interview Model 

Background 

17. The Scottish Child Interview Model (SCIM) is a new approach to joint investigative interviewing that has been introduced across the country since 2021, providing an improved experience of forensic interviewing for children and young people and contributing to improved care and justice outcomes. The roll-out of the Model has been supported by over £2m of Scottish Government funding and is an integral part of Bairns’ Hoose development. It is a national model of practice, with associated  Quality Standards, supporting a consistent high-quality approach to joint investigative interviewing across Scotland.  

18. The Model is a trauma informed approach to forensic interviewing, and incorporates an evidence-based interview protocol, combined with enhanced planning, all of which result in capturing best evidence from the children and young people involved. The needs and rights of every child are held at the centre of the Scottish Child Interview Model, with bespoke interview plans developed by skilled forensic interviewers, in partnership with those who know the child well. 

Interviewer Training 

19. Police officers and social workers who are responsible for joint investigative interviewing benefit from specialised training aligned with the international forensic interviewing research. Interviewers are also supported with their continuous professional development in a range of ways including structured evaluation of interview practice, peer networking and support, themed CPD sessions, local learning and development activity and ongoing consultative support from the National JII Team.  

20. A total of 172 staff have now completed the new National Joint Investigative Interviewing Programme (89 social workers and 83 police officers). These interviewers are located in child interview teams across the country: every local authority except Orkney and Shetland have locally based interviewers.   

Benefits of the Model 

Bespoke Planning for Individual Needs of the Child 

21. Interviewers who operate in this new model of practice can create interview plans which accommodate the individual needs of each child, including very complex needs, thus supporting children, who were previously considered unable to provide evidence, to participate in an interview. 

22. Children say that they feel the interview is about them and that those interviewing them really care about them.  Interviewers say that they now feel they know the child they are interviewing and that this helps them recognise and respond to the child’s needs during interview. Children from 3 years old to 17 years old are skilfully supported to participate in forensic interviews, giving many the opportunity to talk in detail of their experiences of abuse for the very first time. 

Trauma informed approach 

23. Many children and young people who participate in a joint investigative interview have experienced complex trauma, and this manifests in many ways. The new model helps interviewers to recognise individualised trauma responses in children and adapt their intervention accordingly so that the risk of retraumatisation is minimised.  

24. The effect of operationalising trauma-informed practice principles within the context of forensic interviewing is that children are supported to remain within their window of tolerance which means they can think, process information, regulate their emotions, and use words to describe their feelings and experiences.  Children articulate this as feeling cared for during the interview and that their initial feelings of anxiety and distress are noticed and responded to by the interviewers.  

Improved Quality of Evidence 

25. A key aspect of improving experiences and outcomes for child victims and witnesses is to protect them from the adverse effects of giving evidence in court. Improving the evidential and technical quality of joint investigative interviews is thus a key aim of this work, so that joint investigative interviews can be used as a form of pre-recorded evidence in court. 

26. Interviewers are trained to utilise the National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) interview protocol as the framework for the bespoke interview plans they develop for each child.  This is the only interview protocol in the world with a reliable evidence base. The NICHD Protocol has at its core, developmentally appropriate expectations about children’s capabilities, and seeks to maximise the conditions under which children are most likely to describe their experiences of abuse accurately.  It was also developed to withstand legal challenge.  Research demonstrates that use of the NICHD protocol in interviews with children, results in fewer prompts being required by interviewers, but also, importantly, fewer directive and option posing questions.  The number of open-ended free recall utterances by children are shown to be significantly higher in interviews where this protocol is used, indicating a greater accuracy in children’s accounts. 

27. Colleagues in the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service who assess the quality of evidence for the purposes of court proceedings, say that both the evidential and the technical quality of joint investigative interviews has improved under the new approach.  This is important because this pre-recorded evidence can be used in court proceedings as an alternative to the child being required to repeat the detail of their abusive experiences and, in some instances, means children do not have to attend court at all. 

Feedback from children, young people and families collected by local partnerships 

28. The local partnerships pay attention to a range of key implementation drivers, including data and evidence. Central to the data utilised by partnerships to drive forward their decisions and improvement planning is the voice of children and their parents/carers and there are several mechanisms in place to hear these. This includes noticeboards, white boards and colourful comment cards in-situ so that children, and the supportive adult accompanying them, can leave feedback immediately as part of their interview experience.  

29. In many teams, the noticeboard is full of drawings that children who have attended for interview have done, and these often convey observations and reflections from children that can be utilised to shape ongoing improvements.  An in-situ comment card completed by a parent/carer following an interview in one locality read :  ‘Made to feel very comfortable and relaxing environment, child very comfortable, child friendly, focus on well-being. Staff gave child breaks’.  

30. The availability of different options for gathering feedback, plus the immediacy of these options, sends a clear message that feedback from those who are attending interview is very welcome. Listening to, and validating, individual comments and reflections is an extension of the respect and care that is offered throughout the interview itself. 

31. In addition to these “ad hoc” opportunities for feedback to be given, local partnerships also offer a systematic opportunity for all children, parents, and carers to complete a short survey sometime after the interview has taken place. With some time and space for reflection, these surveys capture feedback on critical aspects on the interview experience. Data from these surveys is regularly collated and shared with local multiagency groups responsible for steering the implementation of the Scottish Child Interview Model and is utilised to help measure progress towards meeting the quality standards. 

Evaluation 

32. The views of those involved with the Scottish Child Interview Model are at the centre of an external evaluation of the new approach funded by Scottish Government. The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice are undertaking research into the experiences of children, young people, parents/carers, interviewers, and managers, as well as exploring the use of these interviews within court experiences via the perspectives of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the judiciary. This evaluation is expected to be published by the end of 2024. 

What’s next 

33. Around 5,500 joint investigative interviews take place across Scotland each year. With the Scottish Child Interview Model now available to 99% of the child population, most of these interviews can now be progressed using the new model of practice. Over the next few years, work will continue to fully embed the Scottish Child Interview Model in every area of Scotland so that all joint investigative interviews can be conducted using this new approach.  As part of this stage of the work, the national Guidance on Joint Investigative Interviewing of Child Witnesses in Scotland, 2011 is being revised to reflect current best practice in the field of forensic interviewing of children and this statutory guidance will affirm that the Scottish Child Interview Model is the model of practice to be utilised. 

The Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019 

Background 

34. The Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019 created a rule that, where a witness is under the age of 18 and they are due to give evidence as a complainer or witness of a serious offence, they will be entitled to pre-record all or part of their evidence ahead of trial unless a specific exception is granted by the Court. 

35. This recognises that numerous studies, including SCTS’s Evidence and Procedure Review, identified that children face particular barriers when giving evidence. Enabling them to pre-record their evidence ahead of trial reduces the risk of re-traumatisation and supports them in providing their best evidence. Children and vulnerable adult witnesses can pre-record their evidence ahead of trial either through an Evidence by Commissioner (EbC) hearing or by giving evidence in the form of a prior statement (for children this will normally be their JII) or a combination of both. 

36. The Act establishes the presumption in favour of pre-recording evidence for children but it also contains powers that allow the presumption to be extended to vulnerable adult witnesses.  

37. The Act is key to supporting the implementation of Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland as it strengthens the legislative framework that ensures that children required to give evidence in criminal proceedings for serious cases, can do so in advance of trial and outwith a courtroom. In practice, it means that it will be easier for children who have accessed a Bairns’ Hoose to have their JII that was conducted there, used as part of their evidence at any trial, or in some cases their whole evidence. This reduces the need for the child to repeat their account of what happened and reduces the risk of re-traumatisation which may otherwise arise.  

38. Where the JII is not used as part of the child’s evidence or where further evidence is required to supplement it (either from prosecutors or through cross examination), that will be taken at an EbC in advance of trial. Part of the Pathfinder work will be to explore the way in which Bairns’ Hooses develop their facilities to include the ability to live link into EbCs, therefore allowing the child to attend at a Bairns’ Hoose and give evidence from familiar surroundings. In exceptional cases where a child is required to give evidence during the trial, those live links can also be used so that, again, the child attends a Bairns’ Hoose and gives evidence from that environment which is linked into the trial. 

Rollout of the Act 

39. It was recognised that implementing the Act would place significant additional demands on the criminal justice system and it was agreed that a phased approach to implementation was necessary to avoid overwhelming justice partners. This staged approach was set out in an Implementation Plan that prioritised roll out of the presumption to children in the most serious cases. To date the Act has been implemented for children giving evidence in the High Court.  

40. Plans to extend the rollout to children in the most serious sheriff court cases have been delayed due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the justice system, and the demands of the subsequent justice recovery programme. In addition, a lack of EBC suite capacity in every sheriffdom has impacted further implementation.  

41. A revised Implementation Plan was published on Tuesday 23 April 2024 and commits to extending the presumption to child witnesses and complainers aged under 16 in the most serious cases in the sheriff courts by April 2026. The revised plan maintains a focus on children and builds in time for the justice system to develop the physical and resource capacity required to support a greater number of EBC hearings.  

42. Provisions are also included in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill to extend a presumption in favour of pre-recorded evidence to victims of sexual offences that are required to give evidence in the proposed Sexual Offences Court. The default of pre-recorded evidence was seen as a key aspect of the Sexual Offences Court as recommended by Lady Dorrian’s review. 

Funding for EBC suites 

43. The Scottish Government has now provided over £4 million in capital funding to facilitate the construction of seven Evidence by Commissioner suites.  

44. An initial £2 million in capital funding was allocated to SCTS following the 2019 Act’s passing to fund the construction of EBC suites and to support the installation of digital infrastructure. This supported the construction of four sites which collectively provide the capacity to support over 2,000 commissions annually. These are Glasgow (opened in January 2020), Inverness (opened in March 2020), Edinburgh (opened in October 2022) and Aberdeen (opened in October 2023). A further suite is due to open in Dundee this summer.  

45. We have allocated an additional £2 million in capital funding to SCTS in 2024/25 to support the construction two further EBC suites one in North Strathclyde and one in South Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway. We expect these suites to be operational by April 2026 following which we will have EBC suite capacity in every sheriffdom which will support the roll out of the presumption to children giving evidence in sheriff and jury cases. 

Victim Support Scotland remote court suites 

Background 

46. Victim Support Scotland have a remote court suite in their Glasgow office and intend to shortly open a similar suite in their Edinburgh offices.  

47. The Glasgow suite involves five rooms, each with comfortable seating and screens with the ability to link to any court in the world. Some of the suites have been specifically configured to cater to child victims and witnesses. VSS provides this facility because of the overwhelming evidence from victims about the re-traumatising impacts of giving evidence in intimidating buildings, with the potential to meet the accused or their family.  

Edinburgh suite 

48. The Scottish Government has provided £0.5m of funding to VSS to allow them to relocate their Edinburgh office to premises that will include a bespoke remote evidence suite, similar to the one already in operation in their Glasgow offices. 

Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill 

Background 

49. The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 25 April 2023. The Bill passed Stage 1 of the Parliamentary process on 23 April 2024. 

50. The Bill responds to concerns about the need to improve the experiences of victims and witnesses within Scotland’s justice system, especially the victims of sexual crime. It also continues to safeguard the operation and principles of the system and protect the rights of those accused of crime.  

51. The Bill aims to ensure that: 

• victims are treated with compassion and their voices are heard 

• justice meets the needs of survivors of sexual offences, the majority of whom are women and girls 

• our laws and legal processes meet the needs of modern Scotland and enable public confidence in the justice system 

Provisions in the Bill in relation to children and young people 

52. Children and young people who come into contact with the justice system as victims and witnesses will benefit from the reforms in the Bill, in particular the provisions which seek to make the system more trauma-informed, as well those which will introduce an automatic right to anonymity for victims of sexual and other certain offences, which contain measures relating specifically to under-18s. 

53. A summary of these provisions and how they relate to children and young people is provided below.  

54. Further information about the impacts of the Bill on children and young people can be found in the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) and the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA), which were published when the Bill was introduced. 

Victims and Witnesses Commissioner 

55. The Bill creates a Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland, who will provide an independent voice for victims and witnesses, champion their views and encourage policy makers and criminal justice agencies to put victims’ rights and interests at the heart of the justice system.   

56. One of the main functions of the Commissioner is to monitor criminal justice agencies’ compliance with their Standards of Service and the Victims’ Code for Scotland.  

57. Lack of accountability by organisations involved in the criminal justice process has been consistently raised as a key issue for victims and witnesses. No existing public body or organisation currently has the statutory power of holding criminal justice agencies to account in relation to how the rights of victims and witnesses are met or upheld, nor is this a role that can be given to a third sector organisation. The Victims and Witnesses Commissioner will fill this gap and provide the mechanism of accountability that is lacking from the criminal justice system. 

58. This is of particular relevance to children and young people, as victims and witnesses aged under 18 are automatically classed as ‘vulnerable’, with both the Standards of Service and Victims’ Code making specific reference to the rights of such witnesses. In addition to providing a level of accountability that is currently missing from the criminal justice system, it is likely that the Commissioner will be required to engage with children and young people who are victims and witnesses to effectively fulfil their functions, and to promote their specific rights and interests. 

59. There are provisions in the Bill to ensure that there is no duplication between the functions of the Victims and Witnesses Commissioner and the Children and Young Person’s Commissioner for Scotland (CYPCS). Section 6 of the Bill allows the Commissioner the power to work with others, including the CYPCS, in the exercise of their functions. The Victims and Witnesses Commissioner will have the power to consult with the CYPCS and agree on how to work together in relation to promoting the rights and interests of child victims and witnesses in the criminal justice landscape. 

Trauma-informed practice 

60. The Bill creates a statutory definition of trauma-informed practice and requires justice agencies to make efforts to reduce re-traumatisation. It embeds the new duty in existing statutory reporting mechanisms meaning justice agencies will need to set standards on trauma-informed practice in their annual Standards of Service. As outlined above, compliance with these standards will be monitored by the new Victims and Witnesses Commissioner.   

61. Evidence gathered during the policy development found some groups, including children and young people are more likely to have been the victims of crime, to be vulnerable to trauma, or both. Evidence was also found that suggests young victims and witnesses find aspects of the justice system particularly traumatising. The policies intended to recognise the impact of trauma and seeking to minimise re-traumatisation should therefore have particularly positive impact on children and young people.  

Sexual Offences Court

62. The Bill establishes the Sexual Offences Court, an entirely new Court for Scotland, one that is separate from the High Court or the sheriff courts. The new Court will embed specialism to: 

• develop best practice in dealing with pre-trial and trial procedures in a way that better recognises and adapts to trauma; 
• use available resources more flexibly to contribute to reducing delay and increasing efficiency in these cases; 
• support complainers to give their best evidence; 
• improve judicial case management; and  
• require specialist trauma-informed training for all personnel, judges and legal professionals appearing in the court. 

63. The Sexual Offence Court’s jurisdiction encompasses all sexual offences prosecuted on indictment including where those crimes are alleged to have been committed against a child or children. The jurisdiction of the Court also includes cases under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 that involve a substantial sexual element. 

64. The Bill includes provision which will extend the protections in the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019 to include children giving evidence in the Sexual Offences Court to ensure the presumption in favour of pre-recorded evidence is effectively carried through to the new court. 

65. As highlighted earlier, children and young people often find aspects of the justice system particularly traumatising. The specialist, trauma-informed approaches taken in the Sexual Offences Court will benefit both children and young people who are complainers and those who are related to a complainer (i.e. a parent or sibling) by reducing the risk of re-traumatisation associated with the trial process. More effective and efficient management of court and judicial resources will also impact positively on children and young people by reducing delay, which can be particularly difficult and disruptive for them. 

Anonymity 

66. The Bill provides an automatic right of anonymity to all children and young people who are victims of sexual offences and other listed qualifying offences, namely human trafficking, modern slavery, female genital mutilation, virginity testing and carrying out hymenoplasty. A bespoke approach has been taken in respect of under-18s to ensure that the right level of protection is in place for children and young people. 

67. The provisions enable adult victims to waive their anonymity through a third-party publisher, subject to the victim providing freely given written consent to the publisher. The Scottish Government considers additional safeguards are needed in respect of victims who are aged 18 and under and, as such, the Bill requires judicial oversight for the waiving of anonymity by a child where a third party wishes to publish identifying information.  

68. This approach is in line with many other jurisdictions and is consistent with international definitions of childhood in the criminal justice context. During a Criminal Justice Committee evidence session on the Bill, however, academics who have carried out in-depth research into anonymity for sexual offence victims in several jurisdictions noted that child victims in England and Wales can waive their anonymity at the age of 16, while some jurisdictions set the threshold even earlier. The academics invited colleagues with more experience of working with children and young people in these contexts to assist the Committee further in exploring which threshold seems most appropriate for Scots law. We recognise the importance of balancing safeguards for under-18s with the rights of older children and this is an area we are keeping under review as the Bill progresses through the parliamentary scrutiny process. 

69. The Bill also provides that any third-party publisher wishing to tell a child victim’s story on their behalf must apply to the sheriff court for an order to dispense with the anonymity restrictions. Following the receipt of any such application, a sheriff may order the lifting of anonymity where: the child to whom the information relates understands the nature of the court order sought; appreciates what the effect of making such an order would be; and gives their consent to the making of an order. As an additional safeguard, the Bill provides the court must also ensure it is satisfied there is no other good reason why an order dispensing with the child’s anonymity should not be made. This may include, for example, because the court does not consider that the order would be in the best interests of the child. 

Next steps 

70. The Bill is now at Stage 2 of the Parliamentary process, where MSPs can propose amendments to the Bill. Amendments will be considered and decided on by the Criminal Justice Committee. Timescales for Stages 2 and 3 are determined by the Scottish Parliament but our assumption is that Stage 2 will be after summer recess.    

71. The Bill’s impact assessments, including the CRWIA and EQIA, are being reviewed as the Bill progresses through Parliament. 

Communication with child victims and witnesses review 

72. Following external stakeholder consultation, COPFS have revised their internal policies relating to communication with child victims and witnesses to ensure compatibility with obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The revised policy ensures a communication policy which is based on an assessment of the child’s individual best interests, their individual views and their particular level of understanding. 

73. As part of this review, through an open procurement process, COPFS commissioned Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) to review standard VIA letters to child victims and witnesses to ensure any written correspondence throughout the life of a case is child-friendly and trauma-informed. Children and young people informed this process by providing their views and feedback on the language and content of the letters. The review process is at an advanced stage and remains on-going. It is anticipated that the new communication with child witnesses guidance and corresponding letters will be available for use by staff prior to the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 coming into force on 16th July 2024. 

Conclusion 

74. Members of the Victims Taskforce are invited to note the updates provided in this paper and to engage with the below questions for discussion. 

Questions for discussion  

75. Victims Taskforce members are invited to consider the following: 

• Are there any reflections on the work outlined in this paper? 

• Having considered the level of engagement with Children and Young people in many strands of work outlined in this paper, are there areas where this needs to be improved? 

• How can members support this?