Bills and Laws

Stage 1 Deadline

On 28 June 2023, Parliament agreed motion S6M-09755, that consideration of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 be completed by 29 March 2024.

On 13 March 2024, Parliament agreed motion S6M-12471, that consideration of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 be extended to 26 April 2024.

Further information

The Committee has agreed the following phases for taking evidence from witnesses on the Bill—

Phase 1 – approximately mid-September to mid-November – this will cover Parts 1 to 3 of the Bill which:
• creates the office of Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland
• embeds trauma-informed practice in criminal and civil courts
• increases the availability of special measures for vulnerable witnesses and parties in civil court proceedings

Phase 2 – approximately mid-November to end-December – this will cover Part 4 of the Bill which:
• changes the size of a criminal jury
• makes rules about majority verdicts and what happens when a juror is dismissed or unable to continue on the jury
• removes the not proven verdict

Phase 3 – approximately January to mid-February – this will cover Parts 5 and 6 which:
• creates a new sexual offences court and sets out how it will operates within the criminal justice system
• provides automatic life-long anonymity for victims of sexual offences
• gives complainers in sexual offence cases an automatic right to independent legal representation when an application is made to introduce evidence about the complainer’s character
• gives power to the Scottish Ministers to carry out a pilot of rape trials conducted by a single judge without a jury

You can learn more about our phased approach to scrutiny of the Bill in our short explainer video.

Watch the video

Please note that the above information is for planning purposes only and it is subject to change.

The Committee will regularly provide updates on this page on its plans for scrutiny of the Bill, including the names of witnesses invited to give evidence, as this information is available.

Informal meetings

On Wednesday 6 December 2023, the Criminal Justice Committee undertook an informal meeting with survivors of sexual crime with experience of the criminal justice system to hear their views on the provisions of the Bill. An anonymised transcript of the discussion can be found here.

Read the transcript (310KB, pdf) posted 08 February 2024

On Tuesday 16 January 2024, the Criminal Justice Committee undertook an informal meeting with the families of victims whose lives were taken during a criminal act to hear their views on the provisions of the Bill. An anonymised note of the discussion can be found here.

Read the note  (149KB, pdf) posted 23 February 2024