Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2019 to Question 252552, for what reasons the Government is not contributing the full amount raised from the victims surcharge to the victim and witness budget.

The Victim and Witness Budget, which is used to fund support service for victims and witnesses, is set each year and includes funding from a number of different sources. This includes a forecasted contribution from the revenue raised by the Victim Surcharge.

The Victim and Witness Budget for funding victim support services increased to £96m in 2018/19 and has near-doubled funding for victim support services since 2013.

Between 2015/16 and 2017/18 the revenue raised from the Surcharge surpassed the forecasted contribution, so the excess was put towards compensating victims of violent crime through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. However, we have now changed our procedures so that from this financial year, all revenue raised will be included in the Surcharge contribution to Victim and Witness Budget.