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Making progress on the recommendations specifically involves the victim contact team. To establish that, we need legislation on data sharing. That is what we are doing first, at stage 2. That is why the amendments are dry and technical.

I have outlined some of the things that we are looking to explore through the three different schemes. It is important to have the framework in the legislation so that, when we are ready to establish the victim contact team, the framework is already in place. If it was not, that would delay our being able to establish the team and we would have to wait to legislate in another bill—maybe in another parliamentary session—which would delay its establishment.

Absolutely. If an improvement needs to be made, we want to make it, which is why we are reforming the scheme.

I appreciate that how this is being done is unusual, but I think that we all want to see progress being made with the victim contact team. I know that the independent review engaged extensively with victims, victim support organisations and all the operational partners in developing its recommendations, and we will continue to engage with those organisations as we move forward.

Yes, absolutely. That is one of the recommendations of the review, and we will ensure that there will be a skilled, trauma-informed victim contact team that will handle all the communications with the victims.

You will be aware of the work that is happening with the victims task force, which has a very keen interest in the VNS. With the oversight of establishing the victim contact team, we will engage with all three areas of the victims task force’s current workstreams.

Yes. My understanding is that we have been considering that in relation to data sharing. Lucy Smith may wish to elaborate.

I cannot speak to a timescale at the moment. Obviously, we want to do this at pace—that is why we will be lodging these amendments at stage 2 and, indeed, why we are using this bill as the vehicle to try to get things in place within this parliamentary session. If we waited and tried to do this through another bill, it would not happen in this session. We are keen to do this at pace and to expedite things, but the date on which the scheme will be reformed will depend on the passage of the bill and how things end up at the end of the process. That said, we are keen to make progress.

At the moment, the VNS is formed of three schemes.

The victims of offenders who have been sentenced to more than 18 months of imprisonment have the right to receive information about the release of the offender, and some of those victims have the right to make recommendations when decisions are being made about release. That is referred to as the criminal justice VNS. As of 2 December, there are 3,057 victims on that VNS.

The second scheme involves victims of patients in the forensic mental health system who are subject to a compulsion order and restriction order. Those victims are similarly entitled to rights of information and the making of recommendations. That scheme is referred to as the CORO VNS. As of 2 December, 34 victims are registered on that.

Victims of offenders who are sentenced to fewer than 18 months are entitled, on request, to more limited information about the offender’s release. That is known as the victim information scheme—the VIS. Currently, 58 people are registered on that scheme.

A lot of organisations are involved in the VNS. It is complex, so I will give you some background: the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service plays a role at the start of the process by distributing registration packs to victims; the Scottish Prison Service sends written information to victims; the Parole Board for Scotland and the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland facilitate victim representations; and the Scottish Government sends written information to victims of mentally disordered offenders and also provides release information to the registered victims of offenders detained in secure accommodation. In addition, victim support organisations provide support and assistance to victims registered on the VNS and to victims who can request information under the VIS. Some victim support organisations also now have proxy rights to information.

I hope that that gives you some background in relation to all the organisations that are involved and with which the victim contact team will need to engage.

To go back to your original question, as we move to stage 2, we are not only considering underpinning the victim contact team. We are looking at including the CORO VNS in the standards of service, as set out in recommendation 2 of the review. We are looking at applying discretion to the list of relatives eligible to register for the scheme, as set out in recommendation 11, with that discretion applying across the three schemes. We are looking at children over the age of 12 being able to authorise an adult to receive information on their behalf, which would be done on a case-by-case basis, according to the child’s capacity and choice, as set out in recommendation 14, and that would also apply to all three schemes. We are looking at taking a power to expand the information available under the victim information scheme, as set out in recommendation 15. The power to amend the VIS would bring that scheme more generally into line with what is happening with the VNS. We are also looking at data sharing and a duty to co-operate in order to establish the victim contact team, which covers recommendations 17, 20 and 21 and would apply across all schemes.

Do you mean under the proposed reform?

Are you asking whether family members would be included in the victim notification scheme, such that they would be notified? Are you asking more about the support side?

Absolutely. The review recommendations will not be in place by the time of the second emergency release. With the first early release, I do not believe that victims were an afterthought. I know that victims were at the forefront of the cabinet secretary’s mind when she took through the emergency release legislation, as well as the issue of how we could increase uptake of the VNS, which we know has been a challenge. That is why we need the reform. At that stage, she opened up the process so that the victim support organisations and the Scottish Prison Service could be contacted.

We would encourage anybody to get in touch and get on the victim notification scheme now. That can be done. The victim notification scheme is still set up and people can still apply for it. The reform that we are discussing will not be online by the time of the next early release.

To go back to what you said about victim support, we do not want anyone to reoffend, but the return to custody rate for those who were released under the early release scheme was substantially lower than the average reconviction rate for prisoners who have served a sentence of four years or less. The most recent statistic was on the 2020-21 cohort. That was during Covid, when 40.6 per cent were returned to custody, but, last time, that was not the case.