SG/2026/56: Reform of the Victim Notification Scheme: report for Parliament - March 2026

Ministerial Foreword

We are pleased to present this report where we set out the significant changes that have already taken place to progress transformational reforms to the Victim Notification Scheme, delivering on commitments we made in October 2024 following the Independent Review of the Victim Notification Scheme.

The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 includes the legal underpinning of many changes. We have already commenced some of those provisions which we highlight in this report.

This report also outlines how we will take forward the next phase of reform, including a public consultation, and our next steps to the development of a Victim Contact Team as recommended in the Review. In the Annex we provide details of the progress against each recommendation from the independent review which we accepted.

We remain committed to delivering a programme of reform in collaboration with partners, with a focus on the key innovation, the Victim Contact Team. We will continue to collaborate with Victim Support Organisations and those with lived experience to establish a team which has victims’ needs firmly at its heart. It is our intention to have the first iteration of the team in place in 2027, and we look forward to working closely with partners to achieve this.

Together, these reforms will provide an enhanced service to victims, whose needs will continue to be at the heart of these reforms.

Siobhian Brown MSP

Minister for Victims and Community Safety

Tom Arthur MSP

Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing