The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Mike Penning)
On 15 September 2014 the Government published Our Commitment to Victims, setting out a bold new vision for the treatment of victims in the criminal justice system.
This Government have made significant progress in how we support victims: investing more than ever in services for victims, tailoring provision for individual and local need, being clearer about what every victim can expect. But the criminal justice system can be daunting and victims—especially the most vulnerable—can find their experiences traumatic, with no idea where to turn for advice and support.
We need to do more to help victims of crime navigate the system and access the information and support they need, to protect vulnerable victims and witnesses in court, and to guarantee their rights in law. As part of Our Commitment to Victims, we will:
1. Establish a new nationwide Victims’ Information Service by March 2015, and develop this into a comprehensive service that allows victims to access the information and support they need.
2. Strengthen the protection for vulnerable victims by making the experience of going to court a better one.
3. Increase transparency and accountability, to ensure criminal justice agencies are held to account for the services they provide to victims.
4. Introduce a Victims’ Law to guarantee key entitlements for victims.
5. Develop plans for paying compensation to victims up front, rather than victims having to wait for their money.
For the first time, we will create a joined-up experience for victims of crime. A new helpline and website will help victims navigate the criminal justice system, understand progress in their case, and access the support they need to help them to cope and recover from the impact of the crime.
Where vulnerable victims give evidence, we will give them more options about how and where they do so: whether before the day of the trial, or from a location away from the courtroom.
We will require all publicly funded advocates in cases involving serious sexual offences to have appropriate training on working with victims.
Where things go wrong, victims will be helped to direct their complaints more easily. And we will consider whether the ombudsman or other organisations need new powers—underpinned by law—to make sure victims get redress where they deserve it.
Where offenders are ordered to pay compensation, the victim should not have to wait to receive the money until years afterwards, whenever the offender can afford it: we will consult on how they could opt to be paid up front.
Our reforms will be underpinned by legislation when parliamentary time allows but I would hope for a suitable vehicle in the first session of the next Parliament, to ensure that the rights of victims are enshrined in law, putting the key entitlements of the Victims’ Code into primary legislation, and ensuring their voice is heard in court.
Criminal justice and the provision of care and services to victims of crime is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland. These proposals apply to England and Wales only.
A copy of Our Commitment to Victims has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The document is also available online, at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-commitment-to-victims-september-2014.