LGA Governance


Agenda item

Agenda item

The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales

Minutes:

Dame Vera Baird, Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, introduced item two. Noting that she had a criminal justice background as a barrister, Minister and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), she set out the Commissioner’s duties to promote the role of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system, encourage good practice in the treatment of victims and witnesses, and keep under review the victims code. Dame Vera noted that the powers of the Commissioner are limited, and that she is seeking a requirement for organisations to respond to her reports. She explained that within the scope of her current remit, her small office works in two ways; through undertaking a programme of research and analysis and disseminating the findings of this; and by responding to issues that arise through developing alliances and advocating to drive activity by government, the judiciary and local government. She added that she intends to work closely with the Commissioners for children, anti-slavery and domestic abuse, and emphasised that she was keen to work with councils, and saw this meeting as the start of a relationship.

 

Dame Vera sought the Board’s help regarding the role councils play in tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB), specifically the use of the community trigger. She outlined the findings of a 2019 report which highlighted how ASB can make peoples’ lives a living nightmare, with victims pushed from pillar to post and the cumulative effect on people of persistent ASB often disregarded. She noted that although the police often see ASB as a sub-crime,

it can have more of an impact on people than lower level crime, with sometimes appalling physical and psychological consequences.

 

The Commissioner noted that Government has previously tried to address the impact of ASB, with legislation in 2014 having rationalised ASB tools and introduced the community trigger to empower victims. Victims of ASB who have three qualifying complaints of ASB causing harassment, alarm or distress can trigger/require an ASB case review bringing together relevant bodies to develop action plan to address. However, Dame Vera stated that the trigger is not working or being used enough; only 3% have heard of it, and councils and PCCs do not appear to advertise it. There is evidence that different thresholds for the trigger are being applied, when legally this could only be lower than the three complaints set out in legislation, and a sense that that the few people who’ve had trigger meetings haven’t found them useful. In some cases, she noted, the victim has not always been invited to the trigger meeting.

 

Dame Vera noted the report’s recommendations to:

 

·         Make victims of ASB victims of crime.

·         Introduce a legal requirement to display guidelines about the trigger and to tell victims about it after two complaints.

·         Take a pragmatic approach to the threshold.

·         Have an independent chair for trigger meetings, not someone from an organisation that arguably hasn’t tackled the problem to start with. The Commissioner suggested ward councillors could fulfil this role.

·         Enable victims to attend resolution meetings.

 

The Commissioner concluded her session by highlighting a number of other issues on the horizon, including:

 

·         The Victim’s Bill the Government has committed to. Dame Vera stated that she has written to the Lord Chancellor setting out what she would like to see in this: stronger powers for the Commissioner; representatives being able to give evidence for vulnerable victims; an annual audit of compliance with the Victim’s Code; and a requirement for PCCs to have a local victims commissioner or report annually on their work on victims.

·         The need to develop the Domestic Abuse Bill beyond its current format. Again, the Commissioner has drawn up a list of 20 things she would like to see in it. She criticised the fact that children are not current seen as victims, and the idea that someone can be a perpetrator of domestic abuse but still seen as a good parent because children are not seen as victims. She stated that the treatment of immigrant victims of domestic abuse, and orders for perpetrator programmes, could be better. Dame Vera noted that councils will be under statutory duty created by the Act, but observed that it was not clear that there is enough resources to support this or why there should be a duty on councils but not anyone else.

 

In the question and answer session following Dame Vera’s presentation, the Board expressed willingness to work with the Commissioner’s office and that councils have a number of overlapping asks.

 

A number of members reflected that they were unaware of the community trigger, but had used other ASB tools including dispersal orders, and asked whether there were examples of good practice by any councils in using the process, which Dame Vera agreed to look into, suggesting Bristol council. One member noted that their council did use the trigger, but that they had had a case where a victim would only speak to the councillor and no one else, meaning that the victim was effectively a silent witness; it was suggested that it might be helpful in those cases for someone else to be able to issue the community trigger on their behalf.

 

The Board also questioned why the Home Office are not promoting the trigger, and emphasised the importance of including this within PCC plans and involving town and parish councils where they exist. The issue of information sharing, where complaints are made to different organisations was also highlighted. It was suggested that some councils are not appreciating the correct legal position and believe that there has to be alarm, distress and harassment in each complaint, suggesting that a toolkit may help support greater understanding.

 

Members raised the issue of supporting female offenders who are victims and offending because of this. Dame Vera noted that 60% women in prison have been victims of domestic abuse or sexual exploitation, explaining that she would be proposing an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill to provide equivalent provision to the Modern Slavery Act defence that you committed a crime because of abuse.

 

Finally, the Commissioner was asked whether victims of terror are a distinct group. The Commissioner noted that these victims need appropriate specialist provision. She commented that psychologists have been used more effectively following some terrorist incidents than in others, and that if you can get that in place quickly it can prevent a lot of adverse effects. She also agreed that representation at inquests has been an issue, stating that it was completely unacceptable that families can’t get legal aid and be legally represented at inquests.

 

She suggested that a levy on all public authorities to support representation for families of victims could be an option.

 

Supporting documents: