Draft Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Permitted Disclosures) Regulations 2025

Edward Argar Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 General Committees

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I am slowly beginning to get used to life on the Back Benches and to sitting on neither the Government Front Bench nor the Opposition Front Bench in Delegated Legislation Committees.

Following the Minister’s announcement earlier, I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to Helen Newlove. I had the privilege of working with her in both her first and second terms as Victims’ Commissioner, both times while I was serving as the Victims Minister—the role the Minister now occupies. Helen brought to her role integrity, decency, kindness and fun; indeed, when I first met her, she had been on “Desert Island Discs” and we ended up singing one of her choices, “Bring Me Sunshine”, before our first ministerial meeting. That set the tone for how we worked together, and she became a friend, so I will miss her hugely. I know the same will be true of victims up and down the country, because whatever her friendship she was always fearless and forthright in speaking up for the rights of victims and in making sure their voices were heard loud and clear. Today, this country—but especially the victims community—has lost a very powerful champion.

I am grateful to the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle, for his comments: I did take the legislation on which this statutory instrument is based through in the wash-up period just before the last general election. I also pay tribute to Dame Maria Miller, who campaigned very hard on this issue, and to the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), who was a forceful advocate—although always polite and friendly—in banging on my door and seeking to nudge me a little further.

I will not comment on the amendments before the House more broadly in the Victims and Courts Bill. All I will say is that I welcome the pragmatic and sensible tidying-up in this instrument, which is a bridging measure, but also a means to fill in a few gaps that were, I suspect, missed by both sides of the House in their desire to get the 2024 Act through before the election. I therefore welcome the instrument the Minister has brought before us today.