Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Written Statement of 13 October 2014, Official Report, column 13WS, on Our Commitment to Victims, what steps he is taking to improve the experience of going to court for vulnerable victims.

In ‘Our Commitment to Victims’ the Government set out its plan for strengthening the protection for vulnerable victims by improving their experience at court. By March 2015 we will:

· devise a requirement that to be instructed in cases involving serious sexual offences, publicly-funded advocates must have undertaken approved specialist training on working with vulnerable victims and witnesses;

· give vulnerable witnesses greater opportunity to give evidence from a location away from court that better supports them to give their evidence, with at least one such location available in each court region;

· set out a programme for national roll-out of pre-trial cross-examination for child victims, subject to the evaluation of the pilots; and

· support the Director of Public Prosecutions’ consultation on providing better information and support to victims both before and at court so that they are better prepared for trials.

And as we modernise the courts, we will ensure that victims’ needs are at the forefront of our plans.

Taken together, these reforms will ensure that where victims give evidence, they can do so with in a less aggressive courtroom atmosphere, to reduce their anxiety.