Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether victims of assault are entitled to compensation in circumstances where the perpetrator did not complete their court-mandated rehabilitation programme.

Where a person is convicted of an offence, criminal courts in England and Wales may make – and in some circumstances are required to consider making – a compensation order in cases involving personal injury, loss or damage.

Community orders consist of one or more requirements decided by the court. These can include rehabilitation activity requirements, treatment requirements or programme requirements, which specifically address offender needs.

Where an offender fails to comply with any requirement of a community order, the court has wide powers: it can amend the order to make the requirements more onerous, impose a fine, or revoke the order and resentence the offender to any sentence that would have been available for that offence.

Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for the independent courts taking into account the circumstances of the case.