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We want to make that change so that we have a framework in place, which will allow us to move forward with the victim contact team.

We do not have a timescale for that at the moment, because we are still engaging with all the organisations that are involved. It is a work in progress.

Would you like me to set out what the recommendations on the victim contact team were and what it should ultimately look like, even though I do not have a timescale at the moment?

No. We are discussing the reform of the victim notification scheme with all our partners and moving forward with putting a victim contact team in place. At the moment, we are focusing on the framework legislation that will go forward to stage 2.

You will not at that stage, but we will move forward and you will get all the detail of it as all the work is done.

The delivery model—

We are aiming to do what was recommended in the review. I will go into some of the detail of that, because it is really important. We all want reform of the VNS. We want a bigger uptake, and the Scottish Government agrees with the recommendations and will take them forward.

There should be a specialist, skilled, trauma-informed victim contact team to handle all communications with victims. Eligible victims should automatically be referred to the victim contact team within a set deadline. The victim contact team should contact victims personally at a suitable time after sentencing, offering a conversation by phone in addition to the official notices. The contact team member should explain the system and what the sentence means, offer choices about how the victim would like to be communicated with, and offer easy ways to deregister and reregister if they wish to do so.

There should be a single victim notification scheme website for easy access for information. Communications should have built-in touch points so that victims are not left alone for long periods of time. Victims should ideally have a named contact in the victim contact team, with one phone number to call and one email address. There should be effective data-sharing protocols and shared access to relevant data systems, and the victim contact team should have strong links with victim support organisations to ensure effective and prompt signposting.

That is our ambition for the victim contact team. As I said, it is not going to solve the experience for the victim, but it should make things easier for them.

I will bring in Mari Bremner, who is a specialist in that area. However, reform is about improving things across the three schemes.

Provisions in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 allow for information to be provided to a victim when an offender is subject to a compulsion order, although those provisions have not yet been used. It is our intention to consult on how the scheme might operate for such victims. That is likely to include conversations on whether it would be applicable in all types of offence, and what information should be shared. It will be important to ensure that any information that is shared is appropriate and proportionate. There may be merit in waiting until the victim contact team has been created prior to making any decisions on the VNS for victims of offenders on a compulsion order, because that is a very sensitive area.

Absolutely. We can arrange that.

In my opening answer to the convener, I had to explain how complex the system is, with all the different agencies that we must deal with and have conversations with. Whereas the report was published back in May 2023, the landscape in October 2024 was very different, due to the policy of early release of prisoners throughout the United Kingdom. We needed to engage with all the multiple organisations involved, but we also wanted to look at the policy landscape, which had changed significantly since March last year, and ensure that it was as up to date as possible. That is why we took our time and made our announcement in October.