Background
After beginning life as the draft ‘Victims Bill’ (published for legislative scrutiny on 25 May 2022), the ‘Victims and Prisoners Bill’ was published on 29 March 2023. It is the culmination of the government’s public consultation ‘Delivering justice for victims: A consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system’ (published May 2022), and the ‘Root and Branch Review of the Parole System’ (published March 2022). The Bill will introduce measures in relation to victims of criminal conduct, victims of major incidents, reforms to the parole system, and restrictions on marriage for prisoners who are imprisoned under whole life orders.
Victims
Definition of Victim
The Bill defines a victim as a person who has suffered harm (whether physical, mental or emotional, or economic loss) as a direct result of: being subjected to criminal conduct; having seen, heard or experienced criminal conduct at the time it occurred; having been born as the result of criminal conduct; having a close family member die as a result of criminal conduct; or being a child who is a victim of domestic abuse which constitutes criminal conduct.
Victims’ Code
The Bill will place the principles of the Victims’ Code - which previously existed as guidance to criminal justice agencies and set out the minimum level of service victims should receive in England and Wales from criminal justice agencies - on a statutory footing.
The four overarching principles, which will be put into primary legislation, are that victims:
- Should be provided with information to help them understand the criminal justice process;
- Should be able to access services which support them (including, where appropriate, specialist services);
- Should have the opportunity to make their views heard in the criminal justice process; and
- Should be able to challenge decisions which have a direct impact on them.
The Justice Secretary will be required to issue a full Code of Practice for criminal justice agencies, in line with these principles, as to the services to be provided to victims. Other code entitlements will be in regulation. To make a new code or any substantial changes to an existing one, they must consult the Attorney General, conduct a public consultation, and then lay the code in Parliament. Minor changes can be made without public consultation, but these changes cannot significantly reduce or restrict any of the services provided under the code.
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), together with criminal justice bodies, will be required to take reasonable steps to make victims and others aware of the code, so that they know what to expect from the system. PCCs and criminal justice bodies (including local authority youth offending teams) will also have to jointly keep code compliance under review, gathering insight into local performance and driving necessary improvement. Alongside this, they must take steps to encourage local collaboration.
The Ministry of Justice will be required to publish code compliance information for both the national and local levels, to enable the public to assess the compliance of relevant bodies. Again, PCCs will be required to take reasonable steps to make those in their local area aware of how to access this information. The Justice Secretary will issue guidance about promoting code awareness and reviewing compliance.
Duty to Collaborate in Provision of Victim Support Services
The Bill introduces a statutory duty on PCCs, local authorities and health bodies to collaborate when commissioning support services (other than accommodation-based support) for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence and other serious violence.
The Bill specifies that in London, the relevant local authority will be the Greater London Authority, which will need to collaborate with the capital’s five Integrated Care Boards and the Police and Crime Commissioner (the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime). London boroughs are not specified as a local authority type with a duty to collaborate.
Together, these relevant authorities will have to prepare, publish and implement a strategy for collaboration, keeping this under review and revising where necessary. The Justice Secretary will be required to issue guidance on developing a collaboration strategy and should consult relevant authorities prior to this.
The government estimates that the total cost to local authorities to collaborate when commissioning support services for victims will be around £310,000 per year.
ISVA and IDVA Guidance
Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) are advisors who provide specialist, tailored support to individuals who are victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, respectively. They provide emotional and practical support to help victims make informed choices, navigate support services, and engage with the criminal justice system. The Bill will define these roles, and the Justice Secretary will be required to issue guidance about the services they provide, how they should work together with others who serve victims support functions, and any appropriate training they should undertake. ISVAs, IDVAs, and those with a function relating to victims of criminal conduct or any aspect of the criminal justice system, will have a duty to have due regard to this guidance.
Oversight, Complaints and the Independent Public Advocate
The Victims’ Commissioner will be required to lay their annual report in Parliament, and any named departments and agencies will have a duty to respond within 56 days. The Victims’ Commissioner will also be required to keep operation of the Code under review.
Relevant Ministers will gain the ability to direct joint thematic inspections by criminal justice inspectorates to assess victims’ experiences of the criminal justice process.
The need to go through an MP will be removed from the victims’ complaints process.
The Bill will also establish an Independent Public Advocate that can be stood up to support victims of major incidents. This support may include helping victims navigate inquests and inquiries, connecting victims with support services, and helping victims communicate with public authorities.
Prisoners and Parole
The Statutory Release Test
The Statutory Release Test is used by the Parole Board when assessing whether it is safe for a prisoner to be released. The Bill will clarify that the purpose of the release test is to minimise any risk, as far as is reasonably possible, to the safety of the public. It introduces a list of criteria the Parole Board will have to take into account when applying the test. In conjunction, it creates and defines a ‘top-tier’ cohort whose release decisions will be subject to additional scrutiny.
The Bill also sets out that when making a public protection decision about a prisoner, the decision-maker must in particular have regard to the protection of any victim of the prisoner.
New Powers for Justice Secretary
The Bill will enable the Justice Secretary to review any case in which the Parole Board has decided to release a ‘top tier’ prisoner, and, if the Justice Secretary does not agree that the prisoner presents no more than a minimal risk of committing a serious offence on release, retake the decision. Such Prisoners will have the opportunity to appeal.
Parole Board
The Bill will require the Parole Board to include among its members those with law enforcement experience. The Justice Secretary will gain the power to order that those with specific types of law enforcement experience are placed on certain cases. Panels considering ‘top tier’ cases, for example, will have to include at least one member with law enforcement experience.
The Justice Secretary will gain the power to remove the Chair of the Parole Board if they deem it necessary to maintain public confidence in the organisation. The functions the Chair is expected to fulfil, and activities the chair is prohibited from undertaking, will be set out in statute.
Restriction on Marriage for Whole Life Order Prisoners
The Bill will prohibit prisoners who are serving a whole life order from marrying or forming a civil partnership.
Commentary
The Victims and Prisoners Bill has been published in the context of serious concerns about the experiences of victims of crime in the Criminal Justice System. These issues are particularly acute in London, as was demonstrated in the recently published Baroness Casey Review. In this context, legislation and policy change to improve the experience of victims is highly welcome.
However, concerns have been raised that the Victims and Prisoners Bill, as currently draft, is insufficient to address the challenges presently faced by victims. The lack of specificity in primary legislation on the principles of the Victims’ Code, and the ambiguity around how agencies will be held to account for compliance with the code, were criticised by the Justice Committee during pre-legislative scrutiny. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner has raised concerns that the proposals fall short of what is necessary to transform the response to victims.
While the Victims and Prisoners Bill was originally introduced in draft form as the Victims Bill, with the purpose of making sure victims are “at the heart of the criminal justice system”, the full Bill has been expanded to include a range of measures on prisoners and parole. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales has raised concerns that the new elements introduced to the Bill will detract attention from issues faced by victims of crime.
The Bill incorporates several recommendations made by the Justice Committee during pre-legislative scrutiny, including acknowledging people conceived through rape as victims of crime and recognising the distinct need of children as victims, which are welcome additions.
However, the government rejected a range of recommendations by the Justice Committee, including recommendations to address sustainable funding for community-based victim support services within the legislation. Instead, the government has referred to non-legislative methods for addressing funding issues, namely the Victims Funding Strategy. London Councils remains concerned that proposals to improve collaboration on commissioning victim support services will be not be effective unless they are underpinned by sustained funding for services.
London Councils has called on the government to make the following changes to the Bill, to strengthen the support it provides to victims and ensure it acknowledges the London context. We will continue to call for these changes:
- Review the proposed governance of the duty to collaborate on the provision of community-based support services to ensure the role of London Boroughs is properly reflected.
- New burdens funding should be made available to London Boroughs in order to support their role in collaboration on victim support services.
- Ensure joined up, long term funding is available to underpin victim support services.
- Make dedicated funding available to support interventions to enable collaboration between organisations providing victim support.
- Include a principle in the statutory Victims’ Code that supporting victims of crime should be prioritised over migration status.
- Amend the definition of Victim to be inclusive of victims of non-criminal anti-social behaviour or harassment that meets the Community Trigger threshold.
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