Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on families of road death victims of defendants charged with dangerous driving being granted anonymity.

In accordance with the principle of open justice, defendants in criminal cases are not granted automatic anonymity, for any offence, if they are over the age of 18. The court has the power to grant discretionary reporting restrictions to prevent the name of the defendant being published in exceptional circumstances; this would be considered if revealing the identity of the defendant would pose a real risk to the administration of justice. The Government is not considering granting defendants automatic anonymity.

However, suspects who have not yet been charged with a criminal offence should not be routinely named. The identity of a suspect should only be released if there is a compelling reason to do so, for example if they pose a risk to the public.

The majority of support services for victims of crime are provided or commissioned by Police and Crime Commissioners through grant funding provided by the Ministry of Justice. This includes services to support the bereaved families of victims of road crime.