Section 18: Disclosure of certain information relating to victims of crime
81.Section 18 enables the police to pass information regarding a victim, with the victim’s consent to certain bodies for the purposes of providing the victim with counselling and support. The Scottish Ministers will require to prescribe by statutory instrument the bodies to whom the police may pass information.
82.Subsection (1) provides that a constable may pass certain information to the body or bodies prescribed by the Scottish Ministers. This information may include the person’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and age, plus any other information which the constable deems appropriate as long as it does not include similar information (such as name and address) relating to the alleged perpetrator. The information provided may indicate that the case is one likely to be disposed of by a children’s hearing.
83.Subsection (2)(a) provides that, where the victim of the crime has died, information on any one or more of the qualifying nearest persons as defined in section 14(8) who the constable considers would derive benefit from the counselling or support may be provided to the prescribed bodies again only with the consent of the person concerned.
84.Subsection (2)(b) provides that, where the victim of crime died as a child, information on a person who cared for that victim may be provided, for the purposes of counselling or support, to such bodies prescribed by the Scottish Ministers, again with that person’s consent. A “person who cares for” another person is defined in section 2(28) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 as “someone who, being an individual, provides on a regular basis a substantial amount of care for that person, not having contracted to do so and not doing so for payment or in the course of providing a care service”.
