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I have a quick question about prisoners serving a sentence that is not for domestic violence. Victims of domestic violence were concerned that their tormentor would be released but, because the offender was serving a sentence for a different offence, the victim would not be notified. Is there anything in your proposals that would ensure that those victims are not forgotten and that they would be notified if the person is released or released early?

We do not need all the details just now, but if you could perhaps update us.

Good morning. I return to the report on the independent review of victim notification that was published in May 2023. It set out 22 recommendations, and it said that not all of them would require legislation. I was pleased to hear you say in your opening remarks that any legal changes would be the absolutely essential ones only. That is good, as we do not need legislation just for the sake of it.

You have also said that progressing the reforms is a priority, and that you wanted to do that at pace. The Government issued its response in October 2024, but the report was published in May 2023, which was 17 months earlier. If you are trying to work at pace, why did it take so long for the Government to issue a response?

I am trying to establish what practical measures have been implemented. There was a period of 17 months between the recommendations being made and the Government’s response. Another two months have passed since the Government’s response, and the next phase of emergency early release is due.

With the previous early release, the prisoners’ victims felt that they were an afterthought, and Victim Support Scotland is on record as saying that just 2 per cent of victims of the criminals who were released in that process were informed. Do you have any confidence that any of the proposed reforms would change that when the second batch of prisoners are released in the new year? Will more than 2 per cent of victims be notified? I am thinking about practical measures that could be implemented now without legislation.

It was just that the press release said that you had already started work on creating a victim contact team.

Does the Government have an updated report that it could give us on any progress that has happened with the 22 recommendations in the report of the review? Which ones will require legislation? Can you tell us about any progress that you have already made on those recommendations that do not require legislation?

So, at the moment, you are just gathering your thoughts and working through a process; nothing has been put in place.

In your news release in October, you said that you had already begun work on creating a victim contact team. What stage is the team at? How many members does it have? What kind of work has it been carrying out in the past couple of months?

I was more interested to know what stage we are at with the team, how many people are in it and what it has done in the past couple of months.

We would be changing the system by creating a stand-alone court. However, if all that we need to do is to ensure that everybody who takes part in such trials has that extra level of training, so that they are all specialists, we could do that within the current estate and system, so why do we need a specialist stand-alone court?