Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on police workloads of planned reductions in Ministry of Justice spending in (a) victims' support services, (b) vulnerability strategies, (c) youth offending services and the Youth Justice Board and (d) legal aid.

Funding for these services is a matter for the Secretary of State for Justice, who has confirmed that Police and Crime Commissioners’ budgets for victims’ services have been protected over the period of the spending review, and final funding levels for 2016/17 will be confirmed as soon as possible. The Secretary of State for Justice has also appointed Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of the youth justice system which will report in the summer of 2016 and will make recommendations on how the youth justice system will operate in future.

The Ministry of Justice’s spending review settlement does not depend upon a reduction in criminal legal aid.

We expect Police and Crime Commissioners to continue to work closely with local partners to provide an efficient and effective criminal justice system for their police force areas.