Hansard

Good morning, convener, cabinet secretary and colleagues. I thank the committee and the convener for letting me attend to speak to my amendments.

I put on the record my thanks to the parliamentary clerks who have assisted with much of the drafting of my amendments. As members will know, it is often difficult for individual members to draft stage 2 amendments, as we do not have the assistance of a bill team behind us, so I thank the clerks for helping with some of the drafting at very short notice. That might present me with problems down the line when we come to some of them, but we have done the best that we can.

I also thank my office team, who have worked extremely hard on the amendments and the supporting documents that I have sent to committee members.

All my amendments, starting with the amendments in this group on the victims charter, have come out of my proposed member’s bill—the victims, criminal justice and fatal accident inquiries (Scotland) bill—which I first consulted on some three and a bit years ago and which was the original victims bill. That proposed bill stemmed from a manifesto commitment of my party at the previous election, but also from when I held the justice brief and sat on this committee.

Aside from two substantive elements of my proposed bill—on the not proven verdict and fatal accident inquiries—most of its elements will feature in our discussion this morning. The amendments that I have lodged have some central themes that are very relevant to my proposed victims bill, on which I consulted widely and which, I have to say, was received well by stakeholders.

I launched my proposed victims bill before the Scottish Government published what is now its victims bill. The Government’s bill was originally to be called the “Criminal Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill”, because it makes substantive changes to Scotland’s criminal justice system, but it miraculously became the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. I always take impersonation as the best form of flattery, convener.

It is important that the first word in the title of the Government’s bill and of my original proposal is “victims”. People who are watching this morning’s proceedings should note that, because it proves that we all come at the issue from the same place. We all want to improve outcomes for victims as we work on the amendments at stage 2. We must use this opportunity—for me, it feels like an opportunity—to work collaboratively as a Parliament to improve the legislation and put victims at the heart of any reforms that we make. This is also a chance to set right some of the wrongs of the past, some of which have been well documented and high profile and have led to devastating outcomes for victims of serious crimes, including loss of life and the ruination of others’ lives.

Amendment 234 and others have come from discussions directly with victims of crimes, victim support organisations, victims’ rights campaigners and other third sector organisations, which often carry a lot of the heavy load in assisting people who have been victims of crime. Indeed, the briefing that all committee members will have received on Monday from Victim Support Scotland supports every one of my amendments. Whether it supports them as worded or in principle is another matter, but I hope that committee members will reflect on that, should the committee vote on any of them.

The victims charter is a good place to start. Amendment 234 seeks to place a duty on the new victims and witnesses commissioner for Scotland, should the Parliament be minded to create such a role, to prepare and publish something called a victims charter within one year of section 1 of the bill coming into force. In essence, the aim of having a victims charter is to improve victims’ knowledge and understanding of the justice system, which is an issue that has been raised by many stakeholders I have met. That is notwithstanding the live conversation on the definition of “victim” or whether a commissioner should be created at all—that is not for me to decide.

When researching for the amendment, I discovered that there is already something called the victims code in existence, although I have to say that no one I have spoken to knew of it or was aware of it. That tells me that the victims code was probably published with some well-meaning intention in historical legislation but that it has not featured as a key part of the justice system or in victims’ understanding of their interactions with it.

I am not in favour of duplicating work. If the victims code exists and could be made better, that is perhaps one approach that we could take. However, if we are to create a victims commissioner, surely we should make clear their duties. I appreciate that section 1 of the bill does that, but I would like to see something in addition to that through a victims charter.

An issue that became quite fundamental to amendment 234 was that many victims expressed a lack of understanding of how the justice system works in practice and what their rights are. Many are unhappy with the form and method of the communication that they receive as they journey through what is often quite a traumatic process. We should bear in mind that victims of crime are probably already in a vulnerable position.

In my view, a simple and well-worded victims charter would be a single, comprehensive and understandable source of information that would let victims know what their rights are, how the process works and what their various points of contact will be. According to amendment 234, that could include, among other things, a description of the justice system and how victims may interact with it; victims’ rights in relation to criminal investigations and proceedings, at all stages when they may interact with the system; the processes available to a victim for upholding their rights in relation to investigations and proceedings; and, more importantly, in subsection (2)(d), the manner, frequency and methods of communication with victims to which criminal justice agencies must adhere.