Oral Answers to Questions

Tonia Antoniazzi Excerpts

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk]

In 2010, the total number of children in custody was over 3,000; that figure is now around 500, so there has been a significant reduction. The decision of whether to remand is a matter for the judges. They can remand in custody only if there are substantial grounds for believing that, if released on bail, the child will commit further offences or indeed fail to surrender. We are also investing millions of pounds in Greater Manchester, for example, to see whether there are other options in remanding children into local authority accommodation and not necessarily into custody.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to help ensure public confidence in the support provided to victims throughout the criminal justice process.

[Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to help ensure public confidence in the support provided to victims throughout the criminal justice process.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Laura Farris)]

With the Victims and Prisoners Bill, we are putting the victims code on a statutory footing. It includes a right for any victim of crime to be signposted by the police to correct and appropriate support services. We have quadrupled victims funding since we took office in 2010 to over £150 million a year, and have recruited almost 1,000 independent sexual violence advisers and independent domestic violence advisers into the criminal justice system. In addition, we provide a range of freephone support lines, including a 24/7 hotline for rape.

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

Rapists, domestic abusers and stalkers cannot be convicted if trials are not going ahead, and victims are dropping out after being made to wait years for justice. Where is the Government’s plan to tackle the record court backlog, which is making victims wait years for justice?