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Amendments 258 and 259 seek to safeguard victims by ensuring that, when the Parole Board decides to release a discretionary life prisoner and there is a victim of their crimes, the board must provide a summary explaining why it has chosen to release them. That summary would then have to be provided to the victim, or to a family member if the victim is deceased.

Those who are given life sentences will have committed very serious crimes, and we must ensure that, when they are released, victims or their families are notified and given a full account of the reasons behind their release. Victims deserve transparency, but unfortunately, as we have seen in recent years, not all victims get informed when their offender is released from prison. The amendments will safeguard victims and ensure that they and their families have transparency when it comes to the release of dangerous offenders.

I agree that yearly reporting might be a bit onerous on the system if it is not going to have any real impact, but I would ask that the matter is kept high on the cabinet secretary’s agenda so that, when she is talking to various officials in the justice system, she can make sure that it is high on the list of things for which solutions need to be found. I will not press amendment 91.

Amendment 91, by agreement, withdrawn.

Amendment 89 seeks to ensure that witnesses are given information on the special measures that are available to them in all cases. It also means that, where victims of certain sexual offences request to give their evidence in a particular way, that must be how they give their evidence. For all other vulnerable witnesses, the approach will remain as it is at present. That will ensure that victims and witnesses are listened to and it will improve their experience of the justice system at what is a deeply distressing and traumatising time for them.

Moreover, Victim Support Scotland has pointed out to the committee the need to ensure that victims have a choice in how they provide evidence. I hope that the Government will reflect on the need to do more to ensure that victims do not feel like witnesses in their own cases.

I move amendment 89.

I lodged the amendments to ensure more transparency for victims and their families when people are released from prison. As Jamie Greene has said, there can be a cost implication in producing reports. As the cabinet secretary said in relation to the earlier amendments lodged by Jamie Greene, there are times when we do not need primary legislation to do something; it could be done by a change in procedure or policy. If we do not need legislation, I am happy for more of that information to be given to victims on a person’s release. It would be interesting to hear the cabinet secretary’s views on whether we need legislation to get more information out to victims, or whether that is something that we can work on and bring back at stage 3.

As Pauline McNeill mentioned earlier, we did no work with the Parole Board in the course of our scrutiny of the bill. This is the avenue that my colleague has managed to find to bring in all the amendments on the Parole Board. It is not something that we looked at in great detail, although maybe we should have done.

I note the cabinet secretary’s comment that the proposal does not require primary legislation, and that the consultation will commence in August, so I will not move the amendment.

Amendments 258 and 259 not moved.

Amendment 260 moved—[Jamie Greene]—and agreed to.

Amendments 261 and 262 not moved.

Section 30—Vulnerable witnesses

My amendment 241 would protect victims of domestic abuse by requiring anyone who is convicted of a domestic abuse offence to be subject to a non-harassment order. That would protect and safeguard victims of domestic abuse.

I know that the Government has concerns about the impact that that would have on the discretion of the courts to make sentencing decisions in individual cases. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for offering to meet me to discuss how we can improve protections for victims in that regard ahead of stage 3. As a result, I will not move amendment 241.

We have heard from many witnesses about the trauma. The cabinet secretary and the Lord Advocate know about the trauma that it causes—everybody knows. The bill is there to address the trauma that victims face when they go through the court system and my amendment is the only one on the subject, so I do not feel that we as a committee have done anything to address that trauma that victims face.

If members have suggestions on anything else that would improve the situation for victims, I would be happy to hear them, but I think that this would be a first step in looking at the full situation and getting a report back to see when floating trial diets are used, why they are used, what impact they have on victims and what we can do to improve things for victims, because that is what the bill is meant to do. I hope that we are passing legislation that will improve things for victims rather than just sound good. After listening to victims giving their testimonies, this became, for me, another area that we need to look at improving.

I have taken on board the cabinet secretary’s points. She has amendments that should address my concerns. I have also taken on board the point that my amendment might overwhelm the system, which is entirely not the intention. I seek to withdraw amendment 89.

Amendment 89, by agreement, withdrawn.

Amendment 90 not moved.

I will speak to Russell Findlay’s amendments, convener.

The amendments in the name of Russell Findlay would remove the establishment of a victims commissioner from the bill. Although the proposal is well intentioned, we already have seven different commissioners in Scotland, and the Finance and Public Administration Committee has said that creating a new commissioner

“has ... been seen as an ‘easy win’ for the ... Government”,

as the Government can show that it has done something

“without the need to provide oversight or ensure effectiveness.”

I believe that the same logic applies in this case.

Concern has also been expressed over the potential overlap between a victims and witnesses commissioner and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. Despite the name of the proposed commissioner, they would have no power to champion or intervene in the individual cases of victims. That was highlighted by the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, who expressed concern about managing the expectation that a victims commissioner would be able to help people directly.

We have heard from organisations such as Scottish Women’s Aid that do not support the creation of a victims commissioner because they fear that it will add another layer of bureaucracy and impact on victim support service budgets. If we had unlimited resource, that would be one thing, but we must be realistic. At a time when there is huge pressure on the public purse, it is hard to justify the cost of almost £1 million that would come with the establishment and office running costs of a victims commissioner who will not be able to directly help individual victims.

As Scottish Women’s Aid and the Finance and Public Administration Committee have said, that money would be better spent both on improving front-line services and on practical measures that would directly benefit individual victims and witnesses. However, I know that the committee is likely to support the establishment of the victims commissioner, so my amendment 235 offers an alternative to ensure that the commissioner does an effective job in the way that victims deserve. It would sunset the office after five years unless the Scottish Parliament votes to make the role permanent before that time. That was recommended by this committee, which said:

“If ... a Commissioner post is to be established, ... we recommend that in the first instance it should be for a time-limited period in order to allow for an assessment to be made of the value of the role.”

I hope, therefore, that the Government will support my amendment to ensure that the commissioner is acting in the interests of victims.

I move amendment 1.

There are mixed views among people who currently support victims. Some of them support the creation of a commissioner, because they think that a commissioner would champion victims, but some do not, because they see it as adding another layer of bureaucracy.

Victim Support Scotland has said that it hopes that the money will not come from the support services that it already provides, but I do not think that we should be hoping—we need concrete assurances that the money will not come from the services that Victim Support Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid already provide. If the money comes from those services, there will be a detrimental impact on victims and, instead of helping the people whom we want to help, we will end up making things worse for them.

Therefore, although I still have concerns, and I agree with all of Pauline McNeill’s comments, I am conscious that the amendments will not be agreed to, so I will not press amendment 1. However, I want to put all my concerns on the record.

I want to make a big difference for victims, and I am concerned about the substantial amount of money that will be required for a victims commissioner. I think that some victims have a mixed view of whether it will help or not, so I will not press the amendment.

Amendment 1, by agreement, withdrawn.

Section 1 agreed to.

Schedule 1—The office of Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland

Amendment 2 not moved.

Schedule 1 agreed to.

Section 2—Functions

Amendments 95 to 97 and 3 not moved.

Section 2 agreed to.

Section 3—Civil function

Amendment 4 not moved.

Section 3 agreed to.

Section 4—Engagement

Amendments 98, 99 and 5 not moved.

Section 4 agreed to.

Section 5—Advisory group

Amendment 6 not moved.

Section 5 agreed to.

Section 6—Power to work with others

Amendment 7 not moved.

Section 6 agreed to.

Section 7—General powers

Amendment 8 not moved.

Section 7 agreed to.

Section 8—Restriction on exercise of functions

Amendments 100, 101 and 9 not moved.

Section 8 agreed to.

Section 9—Strategic plan

Amendment 10 not moved.

Section 9 agreed to.

After section 9