Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to ensure that funds devolved to the budgets of police and crime commissioners for victims' services are allocated according to crime rates.

Funding for the commissioning of victims' services has been allocated to Police and Crime Commissioners using a transparent formula based solely on population data. One of the reasons we are moving to a local commissioning model is to allow Police and Crime Commissioners to provide services tailored to meet local needs. The population based formula ensures that funding is allocated according to where the victim lives, and therefore where they will likely seek the support of victims' services. Additionally the relatively low variation in distribution of population between areas year on year means these proportions should remain relatively stable over time.