Criminal Justice Committee 12 March 2025 [Draft]
As the committee has heard, this raft of amendments seeks to prevent a victims and witnesses commissioner from being created. I would strongly oppose such a move; the proposals for the commissioner have been significantly shaped by discussions with victims, victim support organisations and the victims task force, which is co-chaired by me and the Lord Advocate, and many victims and victim support organisations have fought very hard for this commitment from the Government.
We know from victims, survivors and victim support organisations that victims often feel unheard and cannot access information, despite the existing landscape of organisations that advocate for their rights and interests, and that they are supportive of the establishment of a commissioner. The commissioner will monitor criminal justice agencies’ compliance with their standards on trauma-informed practice in order to provide independent scrutiny and accountability.
Under section 16 of the bill, the commissioner will have to produce and publish an annual report on their functions, which must include any recommendations, and the bill specifically provides that those recommendations can cover trauma-informed practice, too. By monitoring how victims’ rights are being upheld, the commissioner will have an important role in holding criminal justice agencies to account, which is an area that we will come on to in the fifth group of amendments.
No existing public body or organisation, including the Scottish ministers, has the statutory power to hold criminal justice agencies to account in relation to how the rights of victims and witnesses are being met or upheld, nor can that role be given to a third sector organisation. The victims and witnesses commissioner will therefore be able to provide that function and the mechanism of accountability that is lacking from the criminal justice system. They will also have statutory powers to monitor criminal justice agencies’ compliance with the standards of service and the “Victims’ Code for Scotland”, and will have a role in establishing a victims charter, which we will come to in the next group of amendments.
I respectfully oppose Ms Dowey’s amendment 235, which seeks to insert a sunset clause into the role of the victims and witnesses commissioner, such that the role would expire within five years of the commencement of section 1. The commissioner will champion the rights of victims and witnesses and provide them with an independent voice—why would anyone not want that for victims, survivors and witnesses, or want its role to be for a temporary period? I remain convinced that the role is needed and should be permanent; it is not a role to be set up, only to potentially expire within a few years. I therefore urge members to oppose amendment 235.