Victims Bill must be strengthened
Response to Justice Committee report pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill
Joint APCC Leads for Victims Donna Jones and Sophie Linden, said:
“We welcome the Justice Select Committee’s Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill. It is clear that they have carefully considered the views of contributors, and we are grateful for their considered report on this important legislation.
“We agree with the Committee, and as we submitted in our evidence, the Bill must be strengthened across the board. We are committed to working with the Ministry of Justice to truly put victims at the heart of this legislation and ensure local and national accountability.
“The Committee rightly highlights the backdrop of the court backlog against which this Bill is set. These significant and ever-growing court backlogs need to be resolved as a matter of urgency if we are to prevent victims from suffering for too long. The government must take steps to tackle these issues if we are to truly put victims first.
“It is vital that the system is supporting and delivering for victims and that we ensure that this Bill truly is the ‘landmark’ piece of legislation the government has promised us.”