Victims Taskforce papers: November 2023

Scottish Government update (paper 9)

Purpose

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

Background 

Since the last update to the taskforce, a number of significant milestones have been met in the ongoing strategic programme of work to deliver the Vision for Justice in Scotland - which sets out the Government’s vision for a just, safe and resilient Scotland. The coming months will see more important developments, both in the Parliament and through the implementation of a variety of legislative and non-legislative measures. Essential to this work will be building on the strong partnerships we have developed with our delivery partners in the justice agencies, public sector and third sector – many of whom are represented on the taskforce.

Many of the areas of work covered in this paper either contribute directly to, or are linked to, the two Victims Taskforce workstreams of a Victim Centred Approach and Trauma Informed Workforce. Furthermore, members of the Victims Taskforce have been instrumental in the development of many of these measures - and in ensuring the voices of people affected by crime are heard and inform how the measures are developed and implemented.

Updates

Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill 

The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 25 April. 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.  

The Bill is at Stage 1 of the Parliamentary process. Responses to the Criminal Justice Committee’s call for views have been published, as have responses to the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s call for views.

The Criminal Justice Committee has started taking evidence about the Bill, with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs appearing at committee on 27 September to explain the overall aims and objectives of the Bill, and then taking questions in relation to Parts 1-3 on 15 November.

The Committee is taking a phased approach to its scrutiny of the Bill, and the Parliament has agreed a Stage 1 deadline of end March 2024.  

Further information about the Bill content is available on the Scottish Government website. The Bill and its accompanying documents (policy memorandum, financial memorandum and explanatory notes) are available on the Scottish Parliament website.

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill

The Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act (the Act) was passed on 22 June 2023 and became an Act on 1 August 2023. The aim of the Act is to ensure the use of custody for remand is focused on public safety including victim safety and delivery of justice, and that greater focus is given to the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals leaving prison custody.

The Act focuses on two parts of the criminal justice system – bail and remand decisions (Part 1) and release from prison custody (Part 2). The provisions in the Act are underpinned by a commitment to public protection and victim safety and aim to reduce reoffending, crime and future victimisation. 

The reforms through Part 1 of the Act are intended to ensure that, as much as possible, the use of custody for remand is restricted to where it is necessary in the interests of public safety (including victim safety) and (in limited situations) to prevent a significant risk of prejudice to the interests of justice. The reforms through Part 2 are intended to give a greater focus to the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals leaving custody with the aim of reducing the risk of reoffending. It does that by, for example, placing a new duty on named public bodies to engage in the pre-release planning of people in prison, as well as requiring the publication of statutory minimum throughcare standards.

The Act includes both a specific and general focus on victim protection. The specific focus includes a new, explicit requirement for the court to consider victim safety when deciding whether to grant or refuse bail – including protection from both physical and psychological harm. The Act also enables the provision of information on prison release arrangements to Victim Support Organisations (VSOs) to enable them to provide the most effective support to the victims and survivors they work with.

During the course of parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill, the VSOs including Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland offered views about the content of the Bill. VSOs felt continuation of two bail tests with a separate test applying for certain serious cases including sexual offending and domestic abuse would be beneficial. The Bill as passed contains one bail test with public safety and victim safety embedded within the test for use in all relevant cases including those that previously would have been subject to the separate bail test.   

Government amendments at Stages 2 and 3 of the Bill’s parliamentary consideration responded directly to some of the concerns set out by the Criminal Justice Committee and VSOs. For example, to address a concern raised by VSOs, amendments were lodged at Stage 2 to ensure that VSOs must obtain the consent of victims before requesting any information in relation to the release of a prisoner in the case of victim whom they are supporting. In addition, the governor veto included in the emergency release provision was extended so that release could be refused if it was felt that the individual would pose an immediate risk of harm to a group of identified individuals, as well as a single identified individual. Amendments at Stage 3 included introducing a requirement for reporting on the operation of the provisions within both parts of the Act and ensuring definitions were consistent across the Act. 

Planning for the implementation of the Act is underway, with commencement expected to start in the first half of 2024. It is likely that different sections of the Act will be commenced at different times, with the timeline being influenced by multiple factors, including engagement with stakeholders around resource and readiness.

In particular, we are considering how implementation of section 14 (which amends the VNS so that victims can nominate a VSO to receive information at the same time as the victim, or on their behalf) can be joined up to the ongoing work on the VNS Review.

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Parliament on 13 December 2022. As outlined in the Programme for Government 2022-2023: “The Children’s Care and Justice Bill will help us Keep The Promise by ensuring that children who come into contact with care and justice services are treated with trauma-informed and age-appropriate support and will put an end to placing under 18s in Young Offenders’ Institutions…The Bill aims to improve experiences and outcomes for children in Scotland who interact with the children’s hearing and criminal justice systems, as well as care settings and those who are placed across borders in exceptional circumstances”.

The Bill aligns with the wider approach being taken around incorporating the UNCRC and includes measures to help Scotland Keep the Promise. Key topics include:

• raising the maximum age of referral to the Principal Reporter to 18
• information to victims re. children’s hearings interventions for children responsible for harm/offending
• protection for people who have been harmed and preventative measures in the hearings system
• remittal between hearings and the courts 
• enhanced framework for court adaptations for children
• extending presumption of anonymity of children re. court proceedings 
• ending statutory routes to placement of children in Young Offenders’ Institutions
• routes to secure care and accommodation post-18
• cross border care placements

The Bill completed Stage 1 of the Scottish Parliament ahead of summer recess. Ahead of this, the Education, Children and Young People Committee published its Stage 1 report on Parliament’s website and the Scottish Government published its response.

The provisions made in the Bill for victims received significant scrutiny. We are committed to a person-centred, trauma-informed approach and share the Committee’s and witnesses’ clear desire to ensure a consistent quality approach to information and support from the early stages of a victim being identified. This is why we are working with partners, including under the Victims and Community Confidence workstreams.

This is a finely balanced area as recognised during Stage 1 scrutiny of the Bill. Care must be taken to ensure the Kilbrandon ethos of the children’s hearings system (which has the needs and welfare of the child who is at the centre of the referral), is not compromised.

We have, however, carefully considered all the information received at Stage 1 and continue to work with a range of victim support organisations to explore the balance currently struck. Extensive engagement has taken place over the summer between officials and organisations such as Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland. The Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise also met with Kate Wallace of VSS on 4 October.

Building upon existing provisions, we are considering amendments in this area to enable SCRA to share further information with victims in certain circumstances. We are also exploring non-legislative supports to victims, for example, a single point of contact, taking cognisance of the range of other developments in this area not least in respect of Bairns Hoose.

Further evidence was taken by the Committee on these matters in October and November, with Stage 2 due to be completed by 15 December.

Bairns’ Hoose

Bairns’ Hoose, based on the Icelandic model ‘Barnahus’, will bring together services in a ‘four rooms’ approach with child protection, health, justice and recovery services available in one setting. The model provides Scotland with an opportunity to provide a genuinely child-centred approach to delivering justice, care and recovery for children who have experienced trauma, including, but not only, child sexual abuse. 

Scotland-specific standards, developed in conjunction with Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate, were published on 31 May 2023. This was followed by the publication of a suite of documents on 1 June 2023: our Refreshed vision, values and approach, Children and young people: participation and engagement plan and Bairns' Hoose - project plan: progress report and pathfinder delivery plan.

We are introducing a three-phased approach for the development of Bairns’ Hoose, to help us create a system that works for all children across Scotland. The first phase, the Pathfinder phase, commenced this year and will lead into a Pilot phase, ahead of national rollout. 

In line with our 23/24 PfG commitment, to “Launch Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinders in autumn 2023”, we announced six Pathfinder Partnerships on 24 October 2023. The selected Partnerships are: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Fife, North Strathclyde, the Outer Hebrides, and Tayside. These Pathfinders will show us how the Standards work in practice in different contexts, enabling the design of a national Bairns’ Hoose model and the support required to achieve this. We have offered Affiliate status to Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Sycamore Partnership (Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian), and Highland partnerships - who were not selected as a Pathfinder - as we recognise the high quality of applications and want to ensure that momentum is maintained across all application partnerships. A fund of £6m will support the Pathfinder phase in 2023-24 with similar level of investment expected in 2024-25

We continue to support the rollout of the Scottish Child Interview Model, with over £2m of Scottish Government funding. This is a ground-breaking approach to interviews for vulnerable child victims and witnesses, which is currently being rolled out across Scotland and will be seen as part of the ‘justice room’ within the national Bairns’ Hoose model. It is expected that the Model will be available in every area by the summer of 2024. We have confirmed, subject to parliamentary approval, funding for National JII Team for a further year (2024-25) to support implementation of the Scottish Child Interview Model.

Independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme 

The independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) was commissioned in late March 2022. The review’s report, supplement to the report, and easy read version of the report were published on the Scottish Government’s website on 12 May. The report contained 22 recommendations covering: 

• automatic referral and a new victim contact team
• data, evidence and reporting
• streamlined process
• enhanced information for victims 
• eligibility

The Victim Notification Scheme enables eligible victims to obtain information about an offender’s or patient’s release, and/or to make representations as part of decisions on release.  

The Scottish Government echoes the review’s thanks to everyone who contributed to the report, victims and survivors in particular. We are also grateful to everyone who has discussed the review’s recommendations with officials since the report was published. 

We intend to publish the formal response to the review’s report either towards the end of this year or very early next year, and for this to be accompanied by an easy read version of the response.  

Our response sets out our priorities for delivering the VNS review’s recommendations in three tranches: primary legislation, secondary legislation, and administrative delivery. Within those three tranches, the response will set out recommendations which will be progressed as a matter of priority, those which require longer term consideration, and a small number of recommendations which we have concluded require no further action. 

On the primary legislation aspect, our response will explain that we are considering options for this. As part of this we are bearing in mind the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill currently before Parliament. 

Violence Prevention Framework 

Any form or level of violence should not be tolerated. There are too many people, families and communities affected by violence, we need to do more to ensure everyone is and feels safe across communities. 

To strengthen our overall approach to tackling violence, in May this year we published the first Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland. It is aimed at preventing violence from happening in the first instance but as and when it does occur, to reduce its harm. The Framework draws on the evidence and research available on violence and what works to prevent violence, and includes some priority actions, supported with over £2m investment, which are being taken forward in partnership with our SG grant funded stakeholder organisations, including the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence. 

The Framework should not be viewed in isolation, it sits alongside our existing commitments to address specific forms of violence, for example to eradicate men’s violence against women and girls and tackling hate crime. Our commitment to tackle these forms of violence are set out in the strategies on Hate Crime and Equally Safe and its refresh.

Implementation of the Framework is part of this year’s PfG commitment and includes 14 specific actions, with a focus on:

• preventing young people engaging in violence
• helping older offenders with a history of knife-carrying via targeted activity
• extending the hospital-based ‘Navigator’ approach which helps support people with multiple complex issues to access services and stop the revolving door of harm
• repeat violent victimisation (informed by a recent research study which explored peoples’ experiences of repeat, interpersonal violence (content warning). The report includes an executive summary plus three topical research briefings)

We will be reporting on progress being made to achieve these actions on an annual basis. The Framework is clear that violence is a symptom of wide range of complex issues and requires multiple sectors, partners and members all to play their part in preventing and reducing violence across Scotland. 

Consultation on Permanency of certain criminal justice measures from the Coronavirus Recovery and Reform (Scotland) Act 2022 etc

On 6 November 2023 we launched a consultation paper seeking views on making permanent, through legislation in this Parliamentary term, the following temporary criminal justice measures which were put in place in the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022.

• allowing for the electronic signing and sending of documents in criminal cases: provisions enabling the use of digital transmission of documents to allow court services to operate more efficiently
• enabling virtual attendance at a criminal court: provisions allowing people to attend a criminal court by electronic means (for example, by live video link) to support the transformation to a more trauma-informed and person-centred justice system
• a national jurisdiction for callings from custody, so that custody cases can be heard in any court in Scotland: enables all sheriffs to hear custody cases no matter where the accused is being held, no matter where the sheriff normally has jurisdiction, and no matter where the alleged offence took place allowing the increased use of virtual custody courts
• an increase in the maximum level of fiscal fine, to £500, along with adjustments to the scale of fines: enables alternative action to prosecution to continue to be taken in a wider range of summary cases

Additional proposals included as part of this consultation are to allow images of physical evidence to be admissible in evidence in the same way as if the item had been produced int court and modernisation of the law around the proof of copy documents. 

These measures will enable flexibility, appropriate choice and a person-centred approach in the way processes are managed for those who use the system, including victims, witnesses and the accused and maximise the use of technology where appropriate in our procedures and practices. 

The consultation will run until 29 January 2024. 

Hate Crime Strategy and delivery Ppan 

In March 2023, the Scottish Government published a new Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland. The strategy has been developed in partnership with organisations with expertise in tackling prejudice, building cohesive communities and advancing human rights. Importantly, it has also been informed by people with lived experience of hate crime.

The strategy provides three overarching aims: 

• victims of hate crime are treated with fairness, compassion and in a trauma-informed manner in which their safety and recovery is a priority 
• the nature, characteristics, and extent of hate crime in Scotland are more fully understood and effectively inform appropriate interventions and policy development 
• communities are empowered, inclusive and safe, and the underlying causes of hate crime are challenged 

The strategy sets out 14 commitments in support of these aims, which set out the strategic priorities for tackling hatred and prejudice in Scotland over the coming years while giving us flexibility to respond to emerging issues. 

We will soon publish the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan, which supports the strategy’s aims and commitments, and sets out our activity for the next two years. This includes activity to: 

• implement the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021
• take forward improvements to hate crime data
• undertake a review of third-party reporting
• support victims of hate crime
• support prevention and community cohesion

On 20 November, the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group will host the Tackling Hate Crime and Building Cohesive Communities Conference, which will bring communities and duty bearers together to explore how we can collectively take forward the activity outlined in the Hate Crime Strategy and Delivery Plan.

The Scottish Government is working closely with justice partners to ensure effective implementation of the Hate Crime Act. We are working towards a commencement period of early 2024 to provide sufficient time to allow justice partners to complete a number of IT change programmes which will support implementation. 

Justice Transformational Change programmes

Since the last meeting of the Victims Taskforce, the Transformational change programmes have continued to establish their ways of working. The Criminal Justice Efficiency Programme has refined its outcomes and the projects within the programme.

The Programme aims to: 

• reduce delays in the time cases take to progress through the justice system from start to finish
• improve the experience of the people involved while the case is underway
• improve access to information to support appropriate, early decision-making and reduce uncertainty in how processes will work
• provide scalable infra-structure allowing for both the physical and the digital infrastructure within the justice sector to be fit for purpose, adaptable and flexible going forward

The current projects within the programme are:

• System Health Check (SG)
• Summary Case Management Pilot (SCTS)
• remote provision of evidence (SCTS)
• Trauma Informed National Domestic Abuse Court Model (SCTS)
• Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Police Scotland
• National Victim and Witness Gateway (SG)
• Reduce Journey Times inc. Court Recovery Programme and COPFS Case Marking (SG/SCTS/COPFS)
• Body Worn Video (PS)

Recent discussions at the board have focussed on the co-location of pilots and planning for national rollouts. In addition, the board has been further exploring the dependency of work on the development of the National Witness Gateway. 

As a reminder, two of the projects within the Person-centred, Trauma informed Justice Programme are workstreams of the Victims Taskforce - Implementation of the Trauma Informed Justice Knowledge and Skills Framework and Improving communications for victims and survivors. 

Update on wider TCP projects:

• work continues on the expansion in use of Victim Statements with a view to finalising the pilot criteria, approach and evaluation by March 2024
• work to extend the use of Restorative Justice, continues to be led and supported by Community Justice Scotland and Thriving survivors. Testing of the Sherrifdom model continues
• a new governance group has been set up to support the strategic expansion of better evidence models – bringing together work on Video Recorded Interviews and the use of Evidence by Commission. This group will be considering the evaluation reports and is looking to agree the key principles and criteria of what should underpin decision decision-making on future roll out of the presumption in favour of pre-recorded evidence. The group will be looking to support the publication of the Section 9 Report in December this year while looking ahead to agreeing a new implementation plan, as well as a view on the funding required, by the new financial year
• to gain insight into the performance and impact that the projects and the programme is having. we are seeking to develop live feedback loops. This would focus on understand what it feels like for a victim or a survivor going through the justice process now
• the intention is that, alongside wider contextual information and evidence sources, including project evaluations, this information will be used to develop insights into the impact of our work and the overall culture shift required to deliver person-centred and trauma informed justice services

Conclusion

Members of the Victims Taskforce are invited to note the updates provided in this paper.

Members of the Victims Taskforce are invited to respond to the consultation on criminal justice measures from the Coronavirus Recovery and Reform (Scotland) Act 2022 and share the consultation more widely amongst relevant colleagues and stakeholders who have an interest in this area.