Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021

12 Victim support information and referrals

(1) Subsection (2) applies where—

(a) a person requests a forensic medical examination as mentioned in paragraph (b) of section 2(2), and

(b) the incident in connection with which the examination is requested is of the type mentioned in paragraph (a)(i) of that section.

(2) The health board to which the request is made must inform the person that—

(a) the person may request from the health board—

(i) a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland, and

(ii) information relating to the rights of victims,

(b) the person may request the health board to refer the person to providers of victim support services, and

(c) the person may contact providers of victim support services directly without being referred as mentioned in paragraph (b).

(3) The health board must, as soon as reasonably practicable after a person mentioned in subsection (1) or section 8A(1) of the 2014 Act makes a request for—

(a) a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland—

(i) provide the person with a copy of the Code, or

(ii) advise the person where a copy of the Code may be obtained,

(b) information relating to the rights of victims—

(i) provide the person with such information held by, or accessible to, the health board as the health board considers relevant to the request, and

(ii) provide the person with contact details for any other body which the health board considers may hold or be able to access information relevant to the request.

(4) Where a person mentioned in subsection (1) or section 8A(1) of the 2014 Act requests a referral of the type mentioned in subsection (2)(b), the health board must, subject to the views of the person—

(a) disclose the person’s details to such providers of victim support services as the authority considers appropriate to the person’s needs, or

(b) provide the person with the name, address and telephone number of such providers of victim support services.

(5) Subsections (6) to (8) apply where—

(a) a person requests a copy of the Victims’ Code for Scotland from a health board under this section, and

(b) the person does not understand or speak English.

(6) The person may request that the copy provided be a translation in a language that the person understands.

(7) The health board may transmit that request to the Scottish Ministers.

(8) The Scottish Ministers must—

(a) translate the Code into the language required, and

(b) provide a copy of the translated Code to the health board.

(9) In this section—

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

• “Victims’ Code for Scotland” means the document prepared and published under section 3B of the 2014 Act,

• “victim support services” has the meaning given by section 3D(5) of the 2014 Act.”.