The Office of the Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner wish to appoint a single provider to provide Victim and Witness Services to Northamptonshire.

The provision of services for victims and witnesses in Northamptonshire spans across a variety of agencies and contracts, including police provision of witness care and some domestic abuse services, nationally provided services such as Victim Support and Rape Crisis and a variety of organisations in the voluntary, community and faith sector.

In January 2012 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a consultation paper entitled “Getting it right for victims and witnesses” which outlined proposals for the future delivery of victim and witness services across the country.

One particular aspect contained within the document was the proposal that responsibility for the delivery of services would reside at a local level under a commissioning framework to be defined by the newly appointed Police and Crime Commission.

The Office of the Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commission (OPCC) are building upon this key recommendation. As part of the Police and Crime Plan created in March 2013, the OPCC have included a strand entitled “Putting Victims First” which articulates how it will improve the services offered to Victims and Witnesses.

In conjunction with the MoJ, the OPCC have agreed to become an “early adopter” of the service and as such are working to towards an implementation date of 1st October 2014 for the new Victim and Witness Service to come on line.