Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 11
Second Report - Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill
Published 30 Sep 2022
Paragraph 34
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that clause 2 includes an additional subsection following subsection 1 which places an obligation on the relevant statutory services, including but not limited to the police, to make victims aware of the Victims Code. We further recommend that the principles currently set out in subsection 2 should be rephrased to set out what victims must have rather than should have—as provided for in the original consultation document. We suggest the following: i) criminal justice agencies must provide victims with the information they need throughout the entirety of their case, from reporting through to post- conviction in a language or format that they can understand; this should include information on restorative justice where appropriate; Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill 53 ii) victims must be able to access services which support them (including, where appropriate, specialist services); iii) victims must have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the criminal justice process; iv) victims must be able to challenge decisions that directly impact them.
From: Justice Committee, Second Report - Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill (HC 304), paragraph 34, 30 September 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 January 2023 (deadline 30 November 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government says it will take forward a number of the Committee's recommendations, including amending the Bill, while stating that "we do not consider that any changes are necessary" on several others.
- On the definition of a victim, the Government "will amend the Bill to include bereaved families" and intends to reference persons born as a result of rape in the Bill and the new Code.
- It does not consider changes necessary on immigration data sharing, citing a Home Office Review, and says it "will consider" a statutory code of practice and Migrant Victim Protocol being developed by the Home Office.
- It declines to give victims a right to access restorative justice, stating "we do not consider that a right to access restorative justice is practical or appropriate" because participation must be voluntary and agreed as safe.
- It will amend the Bill to retain the Victims' Commissioner's duty to oversee the Code nationally and to require agencies to respond to all the Commissioner's reports, "ahead of introduction".