Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provisions available to support child victims and witnesses within the courts system; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Green

We do everything we can to support child witnesses and help them give their best possible evidence to bring offenders to justice.We are piloting recorded pre-trial cross-examination, allowing vulnerable witnesses for the first time to give evidence in advance of trial.

In ‘Transforming the Criminal Justice System: Strategy and Action Plan’ (June 2013), the Ministry of Justice committed to improving the consistency and take-up of special measures for vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses, such as the use of live-link, screens in court and the use of an intermediary (communication specialist). We are working with other criminal justice agencies to deliver this.

Child victims and witnesses are automatically eligible for special measures when giving evidence in court. The presumption in most cases is that they should give their evidence by video-recorded statement, and that any subsequent cross-examination is conducted by live-link with a supporter present who has been approved by the court.

The pre-trial cross-examination pilot ends in October 2014 and the evaluation of the pilot will inform plans for any future rollout of the measure.