Scottish Ministers have made the Parole Board (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2026 (S.S.I. 2026/82), amending the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2022. Made on 12 February 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 13 February 2026, the instrument comes into force on 25 March 2026 and applies to cases referred to the Parole Board for Scotland on or after that date.
The amendments implement duties created by the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which inserted new subsections into section 20 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 requiring rule‑makers to ensure specific victim‑focused considerations are hard‑wired into parole procedure. Sections 55 and 56 introduced subsections 20(4AA) and 20(4AB), commenced on 11 February 2026, to underpin the changes now reflected in the Rules.
A new rule 11 creates an explicit duty on any Parole Board panel to take into account the likely impact of its decisions on the safety and security of any victim, and of any family member of a victim. For these purposes, “victim” means the person against or in respect of whom the offence was committed.
Alongside this mandatory consideration, the panel may continue to weigh any other matter it considers relevant. The Rules list examples that reflect current practice: the nature and circumstances of the index offence, conduct during the sentence, the risk of further offending or harm if released, the person’s proposed plans on licence and the likelihood of fulfilling them, and the effect of release on the safety of other persons, including family members.
The revised rule 11 clarifies process expectations. Panels are not obliged to seek supplementary information about a victim or a victim’s family member. The duty is to consider victim and family safety where relevant material is already before the panel, rather than to create new evidence‑gathering requirements for the Board.
A new rule 12 strengthens the long‑standing consideration sometimes summarised as the “no body” factor. In cases where a person is serving a sentence for murder or culpable homicide and the victim’s remains have not been recovered, the panel must, when making a release decision (other than decisions under sections 3A(4) or 17(4) of the 1993 Act), take into account whether there are reasonable grounds to believe the person has information about the disposal of the remains and has not disclosed it.
The mandatory nature of this consideration does not amount to a veto on release. It requires the panel to weigh nondisclosure within the overall assessment of risk and public protection, alongside all other relevant evidence. For representatives, any credible evidence of cooperation with investigators and demonstrable risk reduction work will remain central to how the panel evaluates public safety.
For victims and families, the amendments codify that their safety must be assessed in every case, and that nondisclosure of remains will be expressly weighed in relevant homicide cases. Decision records and reasons will need to show how these mandatory factors have been addressed, bringing additional clarity to how panels explain outcomes.
The instrument does not change eligibility for parole or alter the statutory tests the Board applies. It standardises what must be considered across all cases from 25 March 2026, aligning parole procedure with the 2025 Act’s direction to embed victim safety and accountability into release decision‑making.