Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the £450m announced as funding for victim support over the next three years is additional or reallocated budget.

At the 2021 Budget, the Government announced that it was significantly increasing support for victim support services to £185m by 2024/25, which is an uplift of 85% from core funding in 2020/21.

On Friday 25 March, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that as part of this increased budget, £147m per year will be committed over a multi-year period, from 1 April 2022 until the end of 2024/25. The move to a long-term funding model will enable charities and service providers to recruit and retain essential specialist staff, building the capacity and strengthening their services so they can provide consistent and high-quality support for victims.

The money will fund emotional, practical and therapeutic support for victims of crime such as women and girls affected by domestic abuse. This includes helping fund more specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs).