Question reference: S6W-08540
- Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 11 May 2022
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 12 May 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve victims’ experiences of and confidence in the justice system.
Answer
A public consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system will open from today, 10 May 2022, until 3 August 2022. It will be available at https://consult.gov.scot/justice/victimsconsultation .
The consultation focuses on proposed legislative reforms with particular reference to victims of sexual offences. It takes forward our Programme for Government commitments to introduce a statutory right to anonymity for complainers in sexual offence cases, establish a Victims’ Commissioner and carefully consider the recommendations from Lady Dorrian’s Review into the management of sexual offence cases that require a legislative basis to deliver.
The Scottish Government is committed to improving victims’ experiences of the justice system by putting them at its centre. This consultation explores how to do this by making the justice system more trauma informed and person centred. It is an important part of a wide-ranging programme of work to bring about transformational change necessary to ensure our justice system is trusted, modern, smart and effective.
We will continue to take an open and collaborative approach to achieve this aim, and this consultation will seek to capture the views of a broad range of stakeholders including legal professionals, the third sector and those with lived experience of the system.
I look forward to considering the full range of views received.