What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking in co-operation with other agencies to improve support for victims and witnesses in the court system.

There are now 150 joint police and Crown Prosecution Service witness care units, whose role is to provide support to victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system. The recently published "Joint Thematic Review of Victim and Witness Experiences in the Criminal Justice System" found that about 80 per cent. of victims and witnesses are satisfied with their experience of the justice system.

When constituents complain to me about drug dealers in their neighbourhood, they are often scared to give evidence because they fear reprisals. What reassurance can my hon. and learned Friend give them that they will be kept safe if they appear in court, and remain safe when they go back to their homes, if they give evidence against drug dealers?

My hon. Friend raises a most important point. A priority is to provide consistent, multi-agency support to people who are courageous enough to come forward. Of course, the police lead on that. That support enables intimidated witnesses to remain safely in their community, if we can build structures around them, but it is not impossible to move someone if that is essential. At court, special measures have been introduced to help vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, such as giving evidence from behind screens, and being able to testify by television link from a place that could be some distance away from the court. About a third of witnesses would not have been willing or able to give evidence if those measures had not been available; that seems to be testimony that they are working quite well.

The Solicitor-General will recall that the witness and victim experience survey last year said that two thirds of victims in cases where the offender pleaded guilty at court did not realise that that had happened. One third of those victims actually thought that their offender had been let off completely. What is the Crown Prosecution Service doing to correct that situation? Does the Solicitor-General agree that one of the many advantages of restorative justice, on which the Government still seem to be dragging their feet, is that as part of the process, the victim always knows what has happened to the offender, because the victim takes part in deciding what should happen to the offender?

There is no dragging of feet on restorative justice. The hon. Gentleman must be aware of a number of pilots that are ongoing. The witness and victim experience survey came out, as the hon. Gentleman said, last year. Of course, everybody learns lessons from the surveys; that is their purpose. The CPS now has joint witness care units with the police. One of the roles of those units is to keep the public involved in what is happening in a case. I am confident that when we look at the next WAVE survey, we will find a significant improvement.

What can my hon. and learned Friend do to assist victims in extremely complicated cases, often where extreme violence has been used, that take an awful long time to be dealt with by the CPS and to get to court? That puts the victim at risk, and it really is justice denied if justice is delayed for as long as it sometimes is in such cases.

I am not sure that the CPS is rightly pinpointed as a significant cause of delay in the criminal justice system. There are listing problems and quite long tailbacks at many Crown courts. That capacity issue is more likely, in my view, to be a cause of delay than the CPS. All the practical measures to which I have already referred are, of course, available in such cases, and there is a very good system now in which police officers attach themselves to a victim, particularly when the victim has undergone a traumatic experience. They ensure that all the counselling that is necessary is made available to the victim, and basically try to support them through the process, so that however long it takes, the victim always has a friend with them. That will improve outcomes, and also make people feel that the justice system cares about them.