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Witness Care Units

: I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) on securing this debate on an important area in which the Government have had considerable success. I welcome the opportunity to highlight the steps that we have taken to improve witness care. I welcome her support for those efforts. On 13 January she opened the Teesside witness care unit, which has 15 fully trained witness care officers who will provide a great deal of support for victims and witnesses. We know, as my hon. and learned Friend has said, that criminals have played the system in the past, hoping that decisions by witnesses not to turn up would result in the dropping of the case. I well remember from the time when I practised law defendants taking the view that witnesses not turning up was the best way of getting off when there might be a strong case against them. The establishment of witness care units, through the ““No Witness, No Justice”” programme is about giving power back to victims and witnesses of crime. In the past, victims and witnesses often felt powerless in the face of crime. The result of that powerlessness has been, first, that people do not report crime in the first instance, because they do not want to become involved in a system that they often see as remote and uncomfortable for them. Secondly, if a crime has been reported, people may not co-operate with the police, because they do not want to get involved and become witnesses in a court—an environment that, again, they sometimes see as uncomfortable. Thirdly, witnesses may fear intimidation, or just worry about the experience of going to court, or they may lose interest in the case. For many witnesses, the first that they hear about a case after giving a witness statement may be when, many months later, they are told that the court will convene the following day or week. They are expected to be there and to remember everything that they recalled some months before. The consequences of all that are that fewer offences are brought to justice than should be, trials are often ineffective and must be adjourned or abandoned because crucial witnesses are not there, and more not guilty pleas than necessary are entered because defendants hold out to see whether something turns up—or, in the case of the witness, does not turn up. That is especially worrying when the victim has been the subject of a sexual assault, rape or offence of domestic violence, or if a witness is worried about possible reprisals from the defendant or his friends or relatives. All that means a loss of public confidence in the criminal justice system. Without witnesses there can be no justice. The ““No Witness, No Justice”” programme, which originated in discussions between the Attorney-General, my noble and learned Friend Lord Goldsmith, and the Home Office, has benefited from an investment of £36 million from the invest to save budget. It enables the criminal justice system to offer better support to victims and witnesses. The programme was successfully piloted, as my hon. and learned Friend said, in five areas in 2003–04, and a national roll-out began in April 2004. Dedicated witness care units have been established in each of the 42 criminal justice areas, staffed by trained specialists from the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, and by specialist witness care officers. The units offer a single point of contact and a tailored response to the individual needs of the witness in question. My hon. and learned Friend identified the case of an elderly gentleman who was assisted when he needed the help of a taxi service that could accommodate his wheelchair to get to the court. Those are the sorts of facilities that can be provided. The units provide very practical help with matters such as child care, transport and housing. A witness may need to be transported to another town to give evidence. Sometimes witnesses must travel from abroad. In those circumstances, assistance with accommodation can be provided. Also, in the court itself, special measures such as a video link or screen in court can ensure that the witness will not be intimidated by a defendant. National implementation was completed at the end of December 2005, and 165 witness care units are up and running, with at least one in each criminal justice area. Some of the units have been operating for longer than others, but there is already good evidence of improvements in the service. In cases that have been handled by witness care units witness, attendance rates have increased from 78 per cent. to 85 per cent. That means that the average number of trials aborted because a witness has not attended has been reduced from 908 in a month to 645 a month—a decrease of 29 per cent. It is early days, but within two years of full implementation the expected performance improvement in the ““No Witness, No Justice”” programme should enable 12,000 more trials to go ahead every year than would have gone ahead otherwise. Through ““No Witness, No Justice””, we are reversing the trend and making victims feel more confident that they can come forward to report a crime and give evidence in court. We are also letting criminals know that it is no longer as easy as it was for them to play the system. We are getting more witnesses to court and convicting more criminals. That must be good. The benefits for victims and witnesses are obvious. They get dedicated support and their needs are individually identified. There is an expectation of minimum standards of care for everyone who comes into contact with the criminal justice system as a victim or a witness. Let us be clear: we cannot wipe out the impact of an offence on a victim. However, we can make the impact of going to court and ensuring that the witness gives evidence in order to get the criminal convicted less traumatic. That is the aim of ““No Witness, No Justice””. There are also benefits to the criminal justice system in improving the care that is given to victims and witnesses so that they come forward and attend court to give evidence. That is an effective way of securing more convictions. We are improving the way in which public confidence in the system can be shown. The public can see that something is being done for victims and witnesses and that it is sensible for them to give evidence. As my hon. and learned Friend said, confidence is increasing. Benefits result for criminal justice staff too, of course. Through better victim and witness care, staff can feel that they are doing a good and more satisfying job and that they are achieving results and making a difference. That, after all, is why they came into the job. Helping people to give their best evidence in court is important, and I know that many criminal justice staff welcome the initiative and feel that it brings them real rewards and an incentive to continue doing their job. I recognise that we must also examine issues that arise from the programme. My hon. and learned Friend has raised several points with me, which I shall deal with one by one. First, she asked whether there a risk of too much contact with witnesses and victims and a possibility of putting them off by becoming over-involved with them. I suppose that in theory that is possible, but at the moment our problem is the opposite. We need to improve the level of contact and ensure that victims and witnesses feel that they are properly informed and that the criminal justice system is responding to them. It has not done so in the past and its reputation for not responding to those people has grown, but we are changing that and increasing public confidence in the system. We need to get the balance right. At present, introducing too many initiatives is not a problem, but we need to take care that it does not become a problem. My hon. and learned Friend is right about that. Another issue raised by my hon. and learned Friend was the possibility that police reform will have an impact. It should not, because there is broad-based police support for the programme and the continuation of funding from the police will no doubt be sought. We hope that after the establishment of any new, reformed police operations, the police will continue to play their full part and support witness care units. We need to continue to provide support in rape cases. I am particularly interested in the work that has been done on domestic violence cases in Caerphilly and Croydon. I am considering whether work of that kind on providing more and better support for rape victims can be done in areas where rape victims need more support. We need to improve liaison between non-governmental organisations and the witness care units, and I hope for such improvements. My hon. and learned Friend identified a case in point. Witness care units are providing increased support for witnesses. I want that to continue and I welcome my hon. and learned Friend's support for it. I assure her that the Government will continue to be very supportive. Question put and agreed to.