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

110 Review in relation to connected proceedings

(1) The Scottish Ministers must, within the period of 2 years beginning with the day on which this section comes into force, carry out a review in relation to proceedings for an offence involving domestic abuse where there are any other related or connected proceedings.

(2) The review under subsection (1) must, in particular, consider whether—

(a) more information should be shared between the court dealing with the domestic abuse offence and any other court dealing with related or connected proceedings,

(b) the court dealing with the domestic abuse offence should also have jurisdiction over any related or connected proceedings.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), “related or connected proceedings” includes proceedings which may result in a sheriff making an order under section 11 (court orders relating to parental responsibilities etc.) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, where the subject of the proceedings is a child of the alleged offender.

(4) As soon as reasonably practicable after completing the review, the Scottish Ministers must—

(a) publish a report of the review,

(b) lay a copy of the report before the Scottish Parliament.

(5) In carrying out the review under subsection (1), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) the Lord President,

(b) the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service,

(c) persons representing victims of domestic abuse (or victims themselves),

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

(6) In this section, an “offence involving domestic abuse” means—

(a) an offence under section 1(1) (abusive behaviour towards partner or ex-partner) of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018,

(b) an offence under section 17 (breach of domestic abuse protection order) of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021,

(c) any other offence where the offence is aggravated as described in section 1(1)(a) (aggravation where abuse of partner or ex-partner) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016.