Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure the Victims Funding Strategy is effectively communicated to the relevant authorities.

Since publication of the Victims Funding Strategy (VFS) in May 2022, officials within the Ministry of Justice have had regular engagement with Police and Crime Commissioners’ (PCC) offices to embed its principles of funding the sector more strategically, removing barriers to access, and implementing clear and consistent outcomes.

This engagement includes recently established PCC forums, which bring groups of PCC officials together to discuss local commissioning and share best practice to improve commissioning standards.

In addition, Ministry of Justice officials have also regularly communicated the VFS principles and its implementation with the Local Government Association and with NHS England, to ensure the VFS is considered by local authorities and clinical commissioners as part of their victim support strategy planning. Other government departments continue to be engaged extensively on VFS implementation in their role as national commissioners.

In the VFS, we committed to reviewing and refreshing the Victim Services Commissioning Framework. This work is currently in development, and will be a positive step to ensuring that the principles of the VFS are reflected in commissioning decisions across all local commissioners. The refreshed framework will be published next year.