Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 108334, on Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information, and with reference to the revision of the Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022, whether her Department will monitor the potential impact on victims of the changes to those guidelines.
The revised Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022 introduced increased privacy protections for victims in respect of their counselling notes being accessed during the course of a criminal investigation. Prior written reasons must be recorded before accessing counselling notes of victims, and access can only occur where it is necessary and proportionate. The Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines are kept under constant review to ensure they are operating as intended. My officials and I engage with victims’ representatives, as did my predecessor and extensively so during the recent review. I will continue to monitor the effective operation of Disclosure to ensure my guidelines support victims by ensuring the recently introduced robust tests to accessing sensitive material are applied by investigators and prosecutors. |