Acknowledgments
MorrisRichards would like to thank the many witnesses in Aberdeen and Ayrshire who took the time to complete and return our questionnaires. We would also like to thank the many staff and volunteers who responded to our agency surveys in Aberdeen and Ayrshire, and although they are not named in the report, we are particularly grateful to the people who agreed to be interviewed. Without such contributions from agency staff it would have been difficult to make an independent assessment of local pilot operation.
We thank the Witness Service for making available to us information from their statistical database. Our thanks also go to members of the local steering groups, our research manager at the Scottish Government, Mark Connelly, and to members of the Vulnerable Witnesses Unit for their support of the evaluation, and valuable input.
The vulnerable witness officers in Aberdeen and Ayrshire, Zara Strange and Alistair McKie supplied material for this evaluation report (notably annexes 1 and 2), and have worked closely and helpfully with us throughout the pilot period. We very much appreciate the time they spent with us in meetings and the information they provided.