Crime: Victims

Lord Campbell-Savours Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord McNally]

Yes. A large number of organisations are involved in victim support, and Victim Support—as the title says—is one of the leading ones. At the moment it is in effect a monopoly provider of services, receiving some £38 million of public funds. In this consultation exercise we are looking at whether it would be better to commission some of those victim support activities locally, and then we can decide where the dividing line between local and central delivery should be. It is a perfectly legitimate exercise. We have, as I say, completed the consultation, and our response and specific proposals are imminent. I hope that that will inform further debate in this House and elsewhere.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

My Lords, do not some of the awards available under the criminal injuries compensation scheme tend to inflate the incidence of false allegations? Would it not be wiser to invest less money in compensation and more in victim support?

[Lord McNally]

That is exactly what we are doing. We intend to put more into victim support and to focus compensation much more effectively.