Victim Strategy Group

Victim Support Scotland and Criminal Justice Social Work are discussing closer joint working as part of the Victim Strategy Group's ongoing desire to create a co-ordinated approach across South West Scotland towards the way in which victims issues are raised as part of Community Payback Order for example. VSS representatives and CPO Unpaid Work Managers will continue to meet and a guidance note for VSS staff detailing community sentences, other available disposals and what work is undertaken with an offender, is being developed.

In the longer term we are considering trialling an information-sharing initiative, whereby VSS staff could provide information from a victim’s perspective to the authors of the Criminal Justice Social Work reports which are submitted to the courts. There are some information-sharing issues to be resolved, but it is hoped that a trial across a small area can be undertaken.

Victim Support Scotland held a range of informal sessions with individual victims throughout South West Scotland. These sessions provided valuable feedback and will help improve VSS practice and enable specific issues to be referred to relevant agencies.Partners can raise issues they would like discussed through the Victim Strategy Group.

Gary Cox, Head of Victim & Witnesses Unit, Scottish Government attended the VSG meeting to give an overview of the recently formed Victim and Witnesses Unit (bringing together Victims, Witnesses and Human Trafficking services’ agendas). A key area of work for the new unit is the development of a new Victim and Witnesses Bill. In her role as Victims portfolio holder for Scotland’s CJAs, the CJA Chief Officer is fully engaged in the consultation process around this bill.

The VSG has also revisited earlier proposals for restorative justice initiatives to identify where elements of these proposals have already been incorporated into day to day work with offenders and to explore where further development might be feasible.