Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

Part 13 Final provisions

111 Review of operation of Act

(1) The Scottish Ministers must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each review period—

(a) undertake a review of the operation of this Act, and

(b) prepare a report—

(i) on that review,

(ii) setting out any changes to the law relating to corroboration in Scotland, whether by enactment or otherwise, which have taken place during the relevant review period, and

(iii) setting out measures taken to improve the experiences of victims and witnesses, in particular women, within the justice system during the relevant review period.

(2) The Scottish Ministers must, as soon as reasonably practicable after preparing the report—

(a) publish the report, and

(b) lay the report before the Scottish Parliament.

(3) In undertaking a review under subsection (1)(a), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) the Lord President,

(b) the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service,

(c) the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland,

(d) the Scottish Legal Aid Board,

(e) the Law Society of Scotland,

(f) the Faculty of Advocates,

(g) persons representing the views of victims and witnesses in criminal proceedings, in particular women (or victims and witnesses themselves),

(h) persons providing victim support services, within the meaning of section 3D(5) of the 2014 Act,

(i) persons representing the views of witnesses and parties in civil proceedings, in particular women (or witnesses and parties themselves),

(j) such other persons as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

(4) For the purposes of this section, “review period” means—

(a) the period of 5 years beginning with the day of Royal Assent,

(b) one subsequent period of 5 years.

112 Regulations

(1) Any power of the Scottish Ministers to make regulations under this Act includes the power to make—

(a) incidental, supplementary, consequential, transitional, transitory or saving provision,

(b) different provision for different purposes.

(2) Subject to subjections (3) to (5), regulations under this Act are subject to the affirmative procedure.

(3) Regulations under section 13(5) are subject to the negative procedure.

(4) Regulations under section 113(1)—

(a) are subject to the affirmative procedure if they add to, replace or omit any part of the text of an Act (including this Act),

(b) otherwise, are subject to the negative procedure.

(5) This section does not apply to regulations under section 116(2).

113 Ancillary provision

(1) The Scottish Ministers may, by regulations, make any incidental, supplementary, consequential, transitional, transitory or saving provision they consider appropriate for the purposes of, in connection with or for giving full effect to this Act or any provision made under it.

(2) Regulations under subsection (1) may modify any enactment (including this Act).

114 Interpretation

In this Act—

• “the 1995 Act” means the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,

• “the 2014 Act” means the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014,

• “the 2020 Act” means the Children (Scotland) Act 2020,

• “trauma-informed practice” is a means of operating that—

  (a)

  recognises that a person may have experienced trauma,

  (b)

  understands the effects which trauma may have on the person, including how trauma may affect any evidence given by the person, and

  (c)

  based on that understanding, involves adapting and implementing processes and practices to—

  (i)

  seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, exposing the person to any recurrence of past trauma or to further trauma,

  (ii)

  seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, negatively impacting the person’s recovery from trauma,

  (iii)

  enable the person to participate effectively in court proceedings.

115 Modification of enactments

Schedule 5 makes further modifications of enactments in consequence of this Act.

116 Commencement

(1) This section and sections 112, 113, 114 and 117 come into force on the day after Royal Assent.

(2) The other provisions of this Act come into force on such day as the Scottish Ministers may, by regulations, appoint.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2) may—

(a) include transitional, transitory or saving provision,

(b) make different provision for different purposes, including different provision for—

(i) different courts or descriptions of court,

(ii) different proceedings or types of proceedings,

(iii) different descriptions of witness,

(c) make different provision for different areas.

117 Short title

The short title of this Act is the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.