Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of whether the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Commissioning Guidance has led to any improvements in specialist victims services being commissioned for Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.

Under the Victims’ Code, victims are entitled to access support services which are tailored to their needs. This can only begin to be achieved by government departments, and other funders of victims’ services, adopting more aligned commissioning processes.

We have set out, in the newly published Victims Funding Strategy, our intention to monitor and review the impact of existing commissioning guidance that relates to victim support services, including the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Commissioning Guidance. As part of this work, we will consider the updating and publication of any relevant guidance in due course.