Alex Davies-Jones
MP for Pontypridd · Labour · United Kingdom
“Hopefully, last week the hon. Lady will have seen the Minister for Women and Equalities, my right hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson), outlining the Government’s response to tackling some of the covert filming that is causing such anxiety to women in particular, and to other vulnerable people.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for asking that question, because it is important to recognise the abuse that this is causing. The law alone is not enough, but we are strengthening the criminal law through world-leading packages.”
“I have huge sympathy for anyone who is struggling with this issue, whether that is because they have to travel further owing to the nature of the case, or for religious reasons. This issue is deeply concerning. My right hon. Friend will know that coroners are independent judges.”
“I will, of course, look at Harmony’s petition to see what more we can do, and look into the issues that the hon. Lady has raised. I recently met a group of victims and survivors who discussed the impact that technological abuse is having on them.”
“If the hon. Gentleman writes to me with the details of the case, I will of course look into it. Delays of that nature are rare, but they can happen because cases are looked at case by case. I will look into the specifics of that case. To reassure the House, we are aware of the issues with coronial delays.”
“My hon. Friend is right: perpetrators are able to generate and share harmful content at unprecedented speed and scale, and we need to be able to respond quickly. Ofcom does have robust enforcement powers under the Online Safety Act 2023, including the power to impose substantial fines and other sanctions.”
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“Drawing on experiences shared with us by the families, the Bill will introduce measures placing a duty on all public authorities, and those that represent them, to act in line with statutory guidance and to support families’ participation in the process. Where there are concerns regarding the conduct of public authorities or their legal teams, the Bill grants the power to the coroner or the inquiry chair to raise those concerns with the appropriate senior individual level of public authority. The Bill also abolishes the current common law offences of misconduct in public office following the Law Commission recommendations in its 2020 report. In its place will be two new statutory offences: the breach of duty to prevent death or serious injury, and seriously improper acts.”
“The Bill will provide this through a new criminal offence of breaching the duty of candour and a new criminal offence of misleading the public. It will also provide non-means-tested legal aid for bereaved families at inquests where a public authority is an interested person, and place a duty on all public authorities to ensure that their use of lawyers is proportionate. It represents an important milestone in rebalancing the system, ensuring that the bereaved, grieving families are supported to participate in the inquest process where the state is represented, introducing the parity of arms that we have heard so much about. It also helps to ensure proper standards of conduct by public authorities at an inquest or inquiry.”
“They will all be legally required to provide information and evidence with candour, proactively and without favour to any of their own positions. Public servants will also be placed under a new professional duty of candour, which will be set out in each organisation’s mandatory code of ethics. This will ensure that individuals act with integrity and honesty at all times in their day-to-day work. The families made it clear to us that when it becomes apparent that someone has sought to evade accountability or prevent the truth from being uncovered—whether through dishonesty and deliberately withholding information, or through the perpetuation of false narratives—there must be clear accountability and appropriate sanctions.”
“I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman. He is fundamentally correct that the Bill is about much more than just the duty of candour. This is about rebuilding the trust between the public and the state. It is about ensuring that there is accountability, transparency, openness and parity, and that the state remembers who it is that we are meant to serve. This is not just about the Hillsborough law, although this legislation will hopefully bear that name; it is about all those campaigns that have suffered as a result of state cover-ups and tragedies. It is really important that we recognise all those campaigning under the umbrella of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign. At inquiries, inquests and investigations, public authorities and officials will be put under powerful obligations to help investigations to find the truth.”
“I am aware that this Bill is of high interest and importance to many Members of this House, the public and, indeed, members of the other place, and many are very eager to see this Bill on the statute books. I want to stress that I share that eagerness. I want to make it clear that the Government remain resolutely committed to delivering this vital legislation. We are determined to get this right. We are continuing to work closely with campaigners and families, and if this motion is agreed this evening, we will bring the Bill back to complete Commons remaining stages, with new Government amendments, at the start of the next Session.”
“It is because of those families and their lived experience that the Government took the decision to delay the Bill to allow more time to get it right—to address the issues that were raised directly with us by the families while not compromising our ability to protect national security and safeguard the national interest. In the past few months, we have been working intensively with the security services, Hillsborough Law Now and the Intelligence and Security Committee to find a way forward on this issue. But that has meant, sadly, that there was not sufficient time to complete the Bill’s passage in this Session. The Government have therefore tabled this motion to allow the Bill to continue parliamentary passage in the next Session.”
“I thank the hon. Lady for raising the issue regarding the Chinook disaster. I recently had the privilege of meeting the bereaved families of the Chinook disaster, and I want to pay tribute to them and their tenacious campaigning to uncover the truth of what happened to their loved ones. I am deeply pleased that the Prime Minister agreed to meet those families last week at Prime Minister’s questions, and we look forward to working with them and all the other campaigners as the Bill progresses through the House to ensure that anyone affected by a state cover-up or a tragedy where the state is represented should have the truth available to them. That is a fundamental feature of this Bill and one we wholeheartedly believe in.”
“We will bring it back as soon as possible, but we will do so only once we have full agreement with the families that this is the Hillsborough law, so that it can be on the statute book, it can be that legacy, and it can be that fundamental reframing of the relationship between the state and families. I commend the motion to the House. Question put and agreed to.”
“Whatever is being briefed to the media is not the Government’s position, and we remain resolute in working collegiately with the campaigners to find a way forward. My hon. Friends the Members for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) and for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker)—those tenacious campaigners—have stated very clearly this evening that there should and will be no carve-out, and that the Bill should serve as a legacy to the 97. It is far too important for us not to keep our promise, and I can say to my hon. Friends again that I commit myself to working with them and everyone else in the House to get the Bill right.”
“As I have said, this is a Bill for the families, and earlier today I had the privilege of meeting Jenni Hicks again. I will meet her on Thursday as well, along with Debbie Matthews, and I speak regularly with Charlotte Hennessy, Margaret Aspinall and many of the other families to ensure that we are consulting them and keeping them informed and updated on the Bill’s progress. I will continue to endeavour to do that, to the best of my abilities. I also want to place on record the Government’s disgust at the briefings, the leaking, and the way in which some of this is playing out in the media. The Government do not condone that. The Government are determined and committed to get the Bill on to the statute book as soon as possible.”
“We are also committed to ensuring that there are no carve-outs, and there will be no carve-out for the security services—I make that commitment again at this Dispatch Box. They will be covered by the legally binding duty of candour and the new criminal offences in the Bill, and it is important for us to continue to work together to find the way through. As I have said, we are continuing to work with the campaigners, with the security services, with other Departments and with the Intelligence and Security Committee to ensure that we find a way forward. My hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley (Anneliese Midgley) spoke powerfully the words of Charlotte Hennessy and Margaret Aspinall, and I want to put it on record that I love working with her too.”
“I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate for their continued support for what is, as they have said, a fundamentally important landmark Bill. It is for the 97, but also for all of victims of all the tragedies who have had to suffer and endure continued pain and trauma as a result of state cover-ups and the preventing of the truth from being sought. I can answer the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough (Justin Madders): the Bill will come back as soon as possible. It is a Bill for the families, and we continue to work with them daily to ensure that we get this right. The Government’s first priority is national security, and we will not compromise on that, but we are determined to get this right.”
“Since that devastating loss, Tracey has shown extraordinary strength and compassion, continuing to advocate for and support other victims through her charity, the Josh Hanson Trust. In relation to the ULS scheme in particular, Tracey has campaigned for more than a decade, working closely with academics and fellow bereaved families to bring forward this change in the law. She held a strong and unwavering belief that it could not be right for her request to the Attorney General to be dismissed so abruptly, with nothing more than a “case closed” response.”
“We owe you a debt of thanks for your courage and fortitude in campaigning to ensure that offenders will always be forced to attend their sentencing hearings, and that offenders that refuse to attend are quite rightly punished appropriately. Thanks to you, criminals will never be allowed to hide away from justice, and you have ensured that others should never have to face what you have had to endure. This measure in the Bill is brought forward in the memories of Olivia, Zara, Sabina and Jan. Secondly, I would like to pay tribute to Tracey Hanson and Katie Brett, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that no other family should experience the injustices that they faced due to not being informed about the unduly lenient sentence scheme. Tracey Hanson’s son Josh was tragically murdered in an unprovoked knife attack in 2015.”
“I am grateful once again to have the opportunity to speak on the Victims and Courts Bill. As I have said previously in this House, this is fundamentally a Bill for victims. Throughout the Bill’s passage, we have heard the experiences and views of victims and bereaved families and we have listened. I know for that fact that the Bill is now stronger because of this. I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to some of the victims’ campaigners who have been so instrumental in this Bill, some of whom are joining us in the Gallery today. First, I say to the families of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Jan Mustafa, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa: I know that nothing will ever lessen the pain of such an immense loss, followed by the indescribable trauma of an offender who would not face you and would not face justice.”
“There is also a statutory duty in this group of amendments to directly inform victims and their families about the ULS scheme, so that they are aware of it in the first place.”
“I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s comments. I was not inadvertently misleading the House; if he looks at the details of Lords amendment 5C, he will see that that is not what it does. The amendment does not simply extend the time limit—it does much more—and it does not extend the time limit for everyone. As I will explain in my comments, this amendment is for the families and for the victims directly. It is not for everyone, as was proposed by the Opposition. This amendment does not just do what the Opposition’s amendment would have done, as Tracey Hanson said in her own words; it does much more with respect to its application, and it is for the bereaved families and victims directly.”
“Member for Maidenhead (Mr Reynolds), who has campaigned to ensure that support is available for families bereaved by homicide abroad as they navigate such tragic events. In the other place, the Government committed to working jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Home Office, to undertake a review of how support is provided to those families and to assess how current arrangements are operating.”
“I do not need to remind the House that Sasha was brutally murdered at the age of just 16, and since that devastating loss, Katie has worked tirelessly to ensure that the families of victims have the right to be informed about the ULS scheme and that, where they are not told, they are given a fair opportunity to make a request to the Attorney General beyond the 28 day limit. I have felt privileged to get to know you all over the course of this Bill. Before I turn to the motions that we will debate today, I would also like to thank those who have contributed to recent debates on amendments related to homicides abroad and court transcripts. I thank Members across this House and in the other place for the thoughtful way in which they have engaged with those issues. I pay particular tribute to the hon.”
“I appreciate that clarification. The hon. Gentleman is correct, but Lords amendment 5C does much more than that, through listening to victims campaigners such as Tracey Hanson and Katie Brett directly. The measure is a direct tribute to them, because for them the status quo was neither fair nor acceptable. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Katie Brett. Katie, your commitment and courage in campaigning in memory of your sister Sasha has been truly remarkable.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. This Bill goes beyond party politics; this is a Bill, as I have said, for victims. It has been a sincere pleasure to work across political divides to get this right for victims, who are rightly at the heart of the Bill. I have always stated that I will work with anyone from any party if they have any measure that could make the criminal justice system a better place for victims, so that we start to put victims at its heart. The Bill does exactly that: it takes a step towards putting victims back at the heart of the criminal justice system, where they fundamentally belong.”
“That is what we have done, and I am pleased to confirm that we have now tabled two amendments to the ULS scheme that will deliver what victims have been calling for.”
“That will look at how AI transcription could lead to producing court transcripts more quickly and at a lower cost for victims. The findings of that study have the potential to reduce fees and improve access to court transcripts. This will mean that further reform will be underpinned by confidence in accuracy, as well as appropriate safeguards, and that it will deliver for victims. I will now move on to the remaining topics for discussion. The Government have agreed with the sentiment of the amendments to the unduly lenient sentence scheme but, as I have said previously, we needed to return to those to ensure that they were workable and effective and would bring the change necessary, following direct engagement with victims and bereaved families.”
“On court transcripts, I thank Liberal Democrat and Labour Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) and for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), for all the work they have done on ensuring that victims have access to court transcripts that relate to their cases. As the Minister set out in the other place last week, the Government are acutely aware of the need to consider what further action we can take to support victims to access information on court proceedings relating to their case, particularly in cases that do not result in a conviction. The Government are also fully committed to strengthening transparency. That is why I am pleased to restate that the Government are commencing a study on AI transcription in the criminal courts.”
“I have met families bereaved by terrorism to work with them on what more we can do, and they will be feeding into the victims code. That brings me on to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) about the victims code. I have spoken before about ensuring that those bereaved by homicide abroad have rights under the code; although it is not necessarily the right place, we have listened to them and ensured that there is a specific measure for them in the draft consultation. We are working with the FCDO and the Home Office to ensure that that can be strengthened so that support is available for them. The review will be published in 2027. It will be robust and comprehensive, and will put families at the centre, so that we can improve the support available to them where it is needed.”
“I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. He will know that my family have also faced tragedy and bereavement at the hands of the IRA. My cousin was killed on Horse Guards Parade serving this country by a serving member of the IRA, and that issue has plagued my family for decades and still hurts to this very day. I have spoken about that tragedy and bereavement in the Chamber before. He will know that the victims code is still open for consultation until the end of this month, and I urge anyone who has such feelings of pain to feed into that to enable us to make the code better for victims. The Policing Minister will have heard his views and the views of other victims on how we can support victims of terrorism.”
“It will be a law for Josh, for Sasha, for Olivia, for Jan, for Sabina, for Zara and for all the victims who have been failed by the criminal justice system. This Bill will become an Act for all of them, and their legacy. I will ensure that the importance of having a consistent approach regarding the law’s name is fed back to all Government Departments, because this is a law for all the victims and campaigners who have engaged with the Government and it is important that they are all recognised.”
“Member for Mid Bedfordshire and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood stated, this is just part of the commitment that the Government are making to victims about the unduly lenient sentence scheme. We still await the findings of the Law Commission, and I again make the commitment at this Dispatch Box that I made to Tracey Hanson and Katie Brett: I will meet them, once the Law Commission completes its work, to discuss the findings and what more we can do as a Government going forward to ensure that we get parity for victims in the criminal justice system. This is just one step forward, and we will continue to work with all stakeholders on the Bill. I have been crystal clear that this is the Victims and Courts Bill, and soon it will be the Victims and Courts law. It will become an Act for all victims.”
“We do not need to put that into law, but we will engage fully with the Crown Prosecution Service, the Home Office, the Victims’ Commissioner and the bereaved families to ensure that we get this right, that full accountability is there, and that there will be scrutiny of the application of the duty under the victims code. I am working with the Victims’ Commissioner to ensure that that is robust. I assure the shadow Minister that that will be followed robustly, and I will ensure that we engage with him on that duty as it develops. I assure the shadow Minister that the consultation on rates will be followed in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines, and we will consult with the appropriate stakeholders. This will not be a tick-box exercise—it will be thoroughly responded to—and the House will be informed of that consultation. As the hon.”
“It shows the best of Parliament when we all come together on an issue that is beyond party politics to do what we were elected to this place to do—to speak for the people we represent, make life better for those who come after us, and create a legacy for those who have sadly had to endure hardship and pain that we will hopefully never have to feel. I thank the Minister in the other place for guiding this Bill through its stages, and for undertaking such extensive engagement with all hon. Members, here and in the other place, throughout its passage. Let me answer some of the questions put forward today. Discussions are ongoing about who will have the statutory duty to notify victims and bereaved families about the unduly lenient sentence scheme, and I will ensure that I update the House on how we progress those discussions.”
“With the leave of the House, I will close this really important and special debate. It moves us another step closer to this Bill becoming a much-needed law for all victims, and I sincerely thank all hon. Members who have spoken, particularly my hon. Friends the Members for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers), and for Knowsley (Anneliese Midgley), the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson), the Liberal Democrat Front-Bench spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), and the Opposition Front-Bench spokesman, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). This is a really important Bill.”
“It will help them understand the sentence that has been passed and will support their recovery. However, we recognise the strength of feeling around transcripts, particularly from victims, and I want to reference that strength of feeling in this House towards the subject, too. I want to be clear that the Government are approaching this with care and ambition to go further. Access to what was said in court matters deeply for victims’ understanding, confidence and sense of justice, and the steps that we are taking to expand the free provision of sentencing remarks represent real progress.”
“Through the Sentencing Act 2026, the Government have already introduced a major expansion to transcript provision, which will, for the first time ever, give all victims the ability to request free transcripts of Crown Court sentencing remarks directly relevant to their case from Spring 2027. That is a significant step forward for victims, improving access to clear information about how decisions are made and strengthening their ability to navigate the justice process. This is a significant operational undertaking. We must ensure that this major expansion for victims is delivered effectively and in a way that is operationally sustainable. We are working at pace to deliver this, and it is essential that we get it right so that victims receive this important information in a timely way.”
“The Bill also strengthens the power of the Victims’ Commissioner by giving them greater authority to act in individual cases that raise systemic issues and by requiring an independent assessment of compliance with the victims code. I am grateful for the scrutiny of the Bill in the other place. The Lords amendments we are considering reflect a shared determination across both Houses to improve outcomes for victims. However, while the Government share that objective, we must ensure that the reforms are workable, proportionate and capable of being delivered effectively. I turn to the seven non-Government amendments made in the other place. First, Lords amendments 1 and 3 relate to court transcripts.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to once again be speaking on the Victims and Courts Bill as it returns to this House. This is fundamentally a Bill for victims. At its core, the measures seek to ensure that victims are treated with dignity, compassion and respect throughout the entire justice process. The Bill will ensure that offenders are held to account by giving judges the power to impose prison sanctions on offenders who refuse to attend their own sentencing hearings—something that the families of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Jan Mustafa, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa have campaigned tirelessly for. It places the welfare of children firmly at the centre by restricting the parental responsibility of the most serious offenders, including child sex offenders and those who have conceived a child through rape.”
“I welcome that comment, and I agree with my hon. Friend. The countless victims and survivors who I have spoken to talk about the need to have those remarks in writing and how valuable a court transcript would be in helping them to recover and process. Let me say at the Dispatch Box that the Government share the ambition to go further and to provide transcripts, but we need to do that in a workable, sustainable and effective way, so that no victim is let down by a process that is not ready or is not capable of meeting the challenge that this issue presents. We are willing to go further, and we will look to see what more we can do in the Lords.”
“It is important that we consult with others in this place and outside it on what would be the most beneficial next step, particularly for court transcripts and cases that end in acquittal.”
“I welcome that question from my hon. Friend, and he is right. We need incremental progress on our shared ambition to go further on court transcripts. I am clear that this is not the end point, but part of the broader effort to improve access, transparency and support for victims. I have been working with my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols), who is a tireless campaigner on this issue, as are many other campaign groups, such as Open Justice. I pay tribute to them for all the work that they have done on getting free sentencing transcripts for everyone in the Crown court. We want to go further, with the experiences of victims at the heart of what we do.”
“I cannot speak for the Ministry of Defence, but I can speak for my own record here as the Minister and my own actions in government when it comes to delivering for victims. I am happy to put on record that we are working at pace to deliver this. The hon. Gentleman will see what measures come back in the Lords and what commitments we can make once we look at what is possible, practical, workable and effective.”
“Member for Maidenhead and the House my absolute assurance that the Government recognise the particular challenges faced by all families bereaved by homicide abroad, including those navigating very complicated overseas criminal justice processes, often in different languages. We are committed to working with agencies to improve the support available to them in England and Wales.”
“The victims code already applies to some families bereaved by homicide abroad, namely where the offence is murder or manslaughter and the perpetrator is a British national or British resident. That is because, in those circumstances, the case can be prosecuted in England and Wales. Where offences cannot be prosecuted in the UK—for example, where the crime is committed overseas by a foreign national—most entitlements under the victims code do not apply. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mr Reynolds), who is in his place, for all his work with the brilliant organisation Murdered Abroad and for representing the views of all the families here. While I appreciate that the code does not capture the whole of the cohort covered by the Lords amendment, I give the hon.”
“Lords amendment 2 proposes the creation of an appendix to the victims code, setting out how the code applies to close relatives of British national victims of murder, manslaughter and infanticide outside the UK, where the victim was resident in England and Wales. The Government cannot support this Lords amendment, as it risks placing obligations on agencies to provide services to bereaved families that are impossible to deliver in practice and that in some places would go beyond what is in the victims code. It also risks confusing the existing legislative framework and therefore the workability of the code, and it could raise the expectations of victims.”
“That means that even modest increases in publication would create disproportionate pressures on operational capacity. Furthermore, requiring the court to make victims aware of their right to request anonymity, make appropriate redactions and publish the transcript online—all within 14 days of a sentencing remarks transcript request being made—would not be operationally viable at this time. As I have said, our immediate priority must be delivering the sentencing remarks expansion for victims properly and at pace. Adding substantial new duties at this stage would divert the very resources needed to deliver these important commitments for victims, which victims have asked us directly to provide.”
“Lords amendment 3 would require the Crown court to publish sentencing remarks transcripts online and in public within 14 days of a request being made and to inform relevant victims of their right to request anonymity before publication. While the Government are fully committed to strengthening transparency—I make that commitment—the Lords amendment would create significant operational and financial pressures for victims at a very difficult time. Public release demands a higher standard of anonymisation to remove both direct and indirect identifiers of victims and witnesses. That is detailed, skilled work. Current AI-based tools cannot reliably carry out anonymisation for the complex and sensitive material heard in the criminal courts, and trained staff are still required to manually review each and every transcript.”
“Secondly, providing victims with routes to verdict would be unlikely to add significant value, which is why we need to discuss with victims what would be of most value to them. A route to verdict is typically a very short document—sometimes it is not even a document at all. Its purpose is not to explain the outcome of a case, but to guide members of the jury through a series of legal questions that they must consider privately when applying the law to the facts. Crucially, juries do not provide their answers to those questions or even give reasons for their verdict. Victims would therefore see only the questions that the jury was asked, not how they were answered, and they would gain no additional insight into the decision.”
“We are exploring how responsibilities under the victims code are being met by the relevant service providers and how to better support them in the delivery of the code. We are seeking views through the ongoing victims code consultation, which ends at the end of April, on whether the processes for providing bail information are working as intended. To strengthen them further, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will, once commenced, introduce a compliance framework requiring all criminal justice bodies to keep their delivery of the code under review. Taken together, these operational and legislative measures address the core concern around timely and sufficient provision of bail information far more effectively than introducing a statutory duty to provide transcripts of bail hearings.”
“Lords amendment 1 would create a new entitlement for all victims of crime to receive transcripts of routes to verdict and of bail conditions and decisions relevant to their case, free of charge and within 14 days of a request—let us not forget that that is what is in the amendment. I will explain in more detail why that proposal would not provide significant benefits over the systems already in place. First, under the victims code, victims already have the right to be informed of bail outcomes and release conditions within five working days—a shorter timeframe than that proposed in the Lords amendment. We recognise the importance of this right and the benefits for victims in being able to access information in a timely or consistent way.”
“Perhaps I was not very clear. This is not about consulting with victims on what is required—we know what victims want, and I have spoken to many of them regarding court transcripts—but looking at what is possible right now. We are prioritising delivering sentencing remarks for free for all victims, and working with the judiciary to ensure that we get this right and accurate. That is the priority for the Government. As I have said, we are willing to go further on court transcripts; this is not the end. For example, we are looking at what would be the best next step for victims. Is acquittal the best thing to focus on right now? We need to get that right before we go further, and I will happily come back to this House with the Courts Minister on the next steps.”
“Nothing in the clause alters the fundamental right to bring a private prosecution: that right is long-standing and preserved in statute, and the Government have no intention of changing it. Clause 12 is a measured and necessary first step towards reform. It will bring clarity to an unclear system, improve efficiency, reduce unnecessary burdens on the courts, and help to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used responsibly. It will do all that while safeguarding access to justice and maintaining, fully and unequivocally, the fundamental right to bring a private prosecution.”
“That right remains protected under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, and will not be affected. Before any rates are set, there will be extensive engagement with stakeholders and a full public consultation. The Government remain open-minded about where the rates should ultimately be set, but the rates will reflect the complexity and seriousness of cases and will be shaped by the evidence that we gather. A number of respected charities bring private prosecutions to protect the public and pursue wrongdoing, but it is important to note that charities represent only about 10% to 15% of private prosecutions that result in claims on central funds, and that they will continue to be able to bring private prosecutions.”