Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of abolishing Police and Crime Commissioners on the provision of local victim support services.

We recognise the important work Police and Crime Commissioners do to commission vital support services for victims and witnesses of crime locally. We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice to establish how their existing victims’ responsibilities will operate within the new police governance system. Ensuring continuity of support for victims in the future arrangements is a key priority of our design work.

We have established transition working groups to refine the design and implementation of the future governance arrangements. One of these is specifically focused on partnerships and commissioning, including victims’ responsibilities.