6. To ask the Scottish Government which victims groups it has consulted with on its proposed Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. (S6O-02193)

The bill is directly informed by the work of the victims task force and the Lady Dorrian review and governance groups, all of which include representation from victims organisations. We have also engaged directly with a range of victims groups, as well as with victims, survivors and their advocates and families, through two public consultations and the jury research engagement events that fed into the bill.

Ministers and officials regularly meet victims organisations and meet directly with individual victims and survivors to discuss a range of issues, many of which are relevant to the content of the bill.

I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer.

The bill is a victims bill in name only. My colleague Jamie Greene has proposed a true victims law that would put the interests of victims at the heart of the justice system. In particular, it promises to implement Michelle’s law, which would prevent criminals, when they are released on licence, from entering the local areas of victims. That measure was promised by Humza Yousaf when he was the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, but it does not appear in the bill. Why not?

Let me reassure Mr Stewart that the bill, when it comes to advancing the rights of victims and witnesses, is one of the most significant pieces of legislation to be introduced in the history of this Parliament, and will represent transformational change that is informed by the very strongest of evidence and debate.

Building on our engagement with victims and witnesses, we have a statutory automatic right to anonymity for victims of sexual offences, new specialist courts for sexual offences and the abolition of the not proven verdict.

With respect to Michelle’s law, I again reassure Mr Stewart that the Parole Board for Scotland has already adjusted its rules in order to give appropriate consideration of the very important matter that he raises.

We are getting on with the job, representing the needs of victims and witnesses and ensuring that they are, indeed, at the very heart of our justice system.