Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help support women who are victims of crime while they wait for their case to come to court.

Supporting victims of crime is a priority for this government. We are recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions in 2022/23 and have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second financial year in a row which will help us to improve waiting times for victims of crime and reduce the backlog. We also recently announced the continued use of 24 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2023/24 financial year.

The Government is making sure to support victims when their case reaches court. In September, we fully rolled out pre-recorded cross examination (Section 28) for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences in all Crown Court locations across England and Wales. This special measure allows victims to pre-record evidence, spares them the glare of a live courtroom trial and allows them to give evidence in advance of the trial and then move on with their lives more quickly.

Last May, we published our draft Victims Bill, alongside a wider package of measures to improve victims’ experience of the criminal justice system as a whole, including when victims are waiting for their case to come to court. Of particular relevance to victims of gender-based violence will be our measures to introduce a duty on Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning support services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and other serious violence, and requiring that statutory guidance is published about the roles of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs). We will introduce the Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows.

We know that victim support services are crucial for all victims to rebuild and recover from the impact of crime. That is why we are more than quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41m in 2009/10. We have committed £154 million of this budget per annum on a multi-year basis, for the next three years (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive), allowing victim support services to build capacity and strengthen resilience. The funding will allow us to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers by 300 to over 1,000, a 43% increase over the next three years. Furthermore, in December 2022, we launched a new 24/7 support line for victims of rape and sexual abuse, meaning every victim can now access free, confidential emotional support whenever and wherever they need it.