Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to put the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime in England and Wales on a statutory basis.

The Victims’ Code, which sets out the minimum level of service that victims and survivors of crime should receive, is already a statutory code of practice, that primary legislation requires the Secretary of State to issue. This means agencies must act in accordance with the Code unless they have good reasons not to do so. Part 1 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, once implemented, will put the obligation to comply with the Code on a clear statutory footing. It will also keep the Victims’ Code as a statutory code of practice, which allows the flexibility for future amendments to be made to the Code to better serve the changing needs of victims, without requiring amendments to primary legislation. We will consult on a new version of the Code next year.

We will go further as we consider the best ways to scrutinise compliance once the new Code is in place, including by increasing the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner, to ensure there is more accountability where the needs of victims are not being met.