Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations his Department has received on breaches of the Victims' Code during the last three years; and what information his Department holds on such representations made to the Victims' Commissioner in that same period.

We have committed to publishing a strategy for victims in early 2018 and representations on the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims’ Code) will help inform this work. We are engaging with victims, victims’ groups and criminal justice agencies and anticipate receiving further written representations as part of this process.

I can confirm that the Department received representations on 23 January 2017 from Voice4Victims containing case studies of victims’ experiences, including apparent failures to receive entitlements under the Victims’ Code.

The Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses, Baroness Newlove, is independent of government and as such, the MoJ does not hold records of what representations the Commissioner may have received.