The Act: Section by Section Section 12: Victim support information and referrals
48.This section (along with the new section 8A inserted into the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) by paragraph 5(2) of the schedule) complements provision already made by sections 3C(1) and 3D(1) of the 2014 Act.
49.Those sections of the 2014 Act require Police Scotland(22) to provide victims of offences (or alleged offences) with information about victims’ rights to request a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland, to request information about the rights of victims more generally and to request referral to providers of victim support services (or to contact such providers directly without referral). Requests under these sections can be made to certain “competent authorities” (including Police Scotland).(23) Sections 3C and 3D also provide for how such requests are to be responded to by the authority to which the request is made (for example, section 3C(3) requires the person, following the victim requesting a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland, to provide the victim with such a copy or advise where a copy can be obtained).
50.As these provisions apply in relation to all offences (or alleged offences), Police Scotland already require to comply with them in the circumstances set out in section 2(2)(a)(i) of the Act. But they do not apply where a victim of an alleged sexual offence chooses to self-refer for a forensic medical examination (as the police are not involved in such cases at this point). Section 12 therefore, in relation to such cases, imposes on health boards broadly equivalent duties to those imposed on Police Scotland by sections 3C(1) and 3D(1) of the 2014 Act – see subsection (2).
51.New section 8A of the 2014 Act adds to the existing duties imposed by sections 3C(1) and 3D(1) of that Act. It requires Police Scotland to inform victims who are being referred to a health board for a forensic medical examination under section 2(2)(a)(i) that they may request a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland or information about the rights of victims from the health board which will carry out the examination. Police Scotland must also inform such victims that they can ask the health board to refer them to providers of victim support services (but also that victims can contact such providers without such a referral).
52.Subsections (3) and (4) of section 12 then impose on health boards equivalent duties to those imposed on “competent authorities” by sections 3C(3) and (5) and 3D(2) of the 2014 Act (that is, to provide the requested information (or advise where it may be obtained) or to make the requested referral to providers of victim support services (or to provide contact details for such services)). These duties apply in both police referral cases (that is, where the victim makes the request as a result of being informed of their rights under new section 8A(2) of the 2014 Act) and self-referral cases (that is, where the victim makes the request as a result of being so informed under subsection (2)).
53.Subsections (5) to (8) (mirroring subsections (3) and (4) of section 3B of the 2014 Act) make provision which ensures that victims who cannot understand English can request that the health board provides a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland in a language that they do understand. The health board may ask the Scottish Ministers to provide a translated version of the Code (and the Scottish Ministers must comply with such requests).