Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for (a) Health and Social Care and (b) Justice on the potential impact of (i) court backlogs, (ii) waiting lists for NHS services and (iii) levels of access to therapeutic support on levels of demand for local non-statutory victim support services.

It is unacceptable that victims requiring support are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for NHS mental health services are far too long. As part of the Government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future, the Department of Health and Social Care is focused on ensuring the NHS is providing the right mental health support to the right people at the right time

For this financial year (25/26), this Government is funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 110,000 sitting days this year, 4,000 higher than the last Government funded.

However, the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days can achieve. That is why we have commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to conduct a review of efficiency that will propose once-in-a-generation reform to deliver swifter justice for victims.