Victims' Code of Practice (Hansard, 20 July 2004)

§ Paul Goggins

The Victims' Code of Practice, provided for in the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Bill currently before Parliament, will place national obligations on criminal justice agencies to deliver specific services to victims of crime. Those bereaved as a result of death on the road will be entitled to the relevant police obligations and, where a charge is considered or brought, the relevant Crown Prosecution Service and courts' obligations. They will not, at present, be entitled routinely to the Code's personal support services, to be offered by Victim Support, as practice in this area is still being determined.

Last year, at a cost of some £500,000, we established three pilot sites to test different ways of organising and delivering services to road traffic victims. These pilots are subject to independent evaluation with a full report on their effectiveness envisaged for Summer 2005. Following this, we will need to consider, with voluntary sector partners and others, the key outcomes from the evaluation programme and how we can best implement a support service to address the needs of all those victimised by incidents on the road.

The victims' legislation clearly sets out the procedures for making revisions to the Code of Practice and it is likely that, because it is statutory, there will be regular updates to reflect front line developments. So if, as seems likely, it is not possible to include obligations to provide personal support services for road traffic victims in the initial version of the Code, which is likely to become fully operational during 2005, then we should be in a position to do so when it is revised for the first time.