Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Tuesday 18th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

3. What assessment he has made of the effect on victims’ services of the work of police and crime commissioners.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of the effect on victims’ services of the work of police and crime commissioners.

[The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Damian Green)]

We expect that the needs of victims will be one of the key priorities for police and crime commissioners and that the effect on victims’ services will be a positive one. PCCs will be ideally placed to commission the most appropriate services to support victims in their area.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Green]

Central Government currently spend about £66 million a year on supporting witnesses and victims of crime, and we aim to raise up to an additional £50 million a year from offenders, through the victims surcharge and other financial impositions, to be used for support services for victims and witnesses. The police and crime commissioners will therefore have sufficient budget to enable them to make their own judgments on how best to support victims in their area.

[Nigel Mills]

Many victims feel let down by the whole process. Does the Minister agree that the police and crime commissioners, with their local knowledge, will be able to ensure that victims get a fair deal throughout the investigation and sentencing processes?

[Damian Green]

My hon. Friend is right. Individual PCCs in specific areas will be the best placed to understand the needs of the local community and to commission the services to meet those needs, as they will be taking those decisions closer to the people who will be most affected by them. That is the whole thrust of this important reform.