150.Section 43 inserts a new section 17DB into the 2003 Act. Subsection (1) of the new section provides that the Lord Advocate may co-operate with the Scottish Ministers in relation to the provision of information to victims. Subsection (2) gives the Scottish Ministers a regulation-making power by which they can impose a duty on any person, other than the Lord Advocate, to co-operate with the Scottish Ministers in relation to the provision of information to victims. This differs from the provision made by subsection (1), which permits, but does not require the Lord Advocate to co-operate. Persons specified in regulations made under subsection (2) would be required to co-operate.
151.Subsection (3) of the new section gives the Scottish Ministers the power to co-operate with the persons listed in subsection (4), for the purpose of either the Scottish Ministers providing information to victims, or the person with whom the Scottish Ministers are co-operating providing information to victims in their own jurisdiction under an equivalent scheme. The persons listed in subsection (4) are persons in other jurisdictions who have equivalent functions to those of the Scottish Ministers under sections 16 to 17DA of the 2003 Act, or who have responsibility for information which is relevant to those functions of the Scottish Ministers, and so therefore may be in a position to provide that information to the Scottish Ministers.
152.Subsection (5) makes clear that co-operation under this section includes the sharing of information as required to enable to the Scottish Ministers to carry out their duty to provide information to victims.
Crown Application Part 3 – Victims’ Rights to Receive Information Section 43 – co-operation with the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of sharing information with victims