During Justice Questions late last week, both Diana Johnson MP and Nick Smith MP asked questions on the future of victims’ services which were directed at justice minister Crispin Blunt MP.
Addressing the House of Commons, Diana Johnson MP quoted Victim Support’s research which shows that GB pound 21 million of help for victims could be wasted if Government plans to hand over control of budgets to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) go ahead.
Nick Smith MP called on the Government to ring-fence any funding that’s devolved to PCCs, while Tom Brake MP called on the minister to clarify which crimes will require a minimum guaranteed level of support to victims from PCCs.
Rob Flello MP summarised these sentiments by saying: “The Government’s approach to victims’ services is a shambles”.
Response from central Government
Responding to these comments, Crispin Blunt MP acknowledged that there has been a steady improvement in services to victims and witnesses in the past two decades and confirmed that the Government is still making a decision about which victim services are commissioned locally and which will remain to be commissioned nationally.
Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, said: “This continued pressure from parliamentarians from across the political spectrum reflects the concerns of the many thousands of people who have signed our e-petition. They are all calling on the Government to listen and urgently review its damaging proposals.”
Khan added: “We echo Nick Smith MP’s calls on the Government to guarantee the additional GB pound 50 million for victims’ services in order to ensure that victims don’t suffer twice.”
Read the full concerns of Victim Support and its response to the MoJ consultation paper entitled Getting it right for victims and witnesses
Want to show your support for Victim Support’s work here? If so, sign the e-petition.
Victim Support CEO addresses Police Federation Conference
Victim Support’s CEO Javed Khan also took part in a panel discussion at the Police Federation 2012 Conference in Bournemouth on Tuesday 15 May.
In response to questions around victims and proposed changes to policing, he said: “On behalf of the many millions of victims we need a clear balance of realism versus fears. The realism is that we live in an age of severe austerity and a fiscal crisis and that does require change and reform. Whichever Government comes into play will have to deal with that.”
He continued: “There are significant fears for victims. They need a highly committed and motivated police force they can turn to at their time of crisis. Any change that doesn’t maintain a highly motivated police force that has good morale among its ranks leads to many fears for victims who need to rely on the police.”
Watch Day One of the conference on video with Javed’s contribution around 1 hour and 49 minutes into the clip
