In Parliament today I called on the UK Government to address the lack of support available for vulnerable witnesses in Wales.

A recent BBC Wales report on Registered Intermediaries (RIs), who are used by the police and courts to help witnesses with communication difficulties give evidence in cases, identified that there is only one full-time RI in Wales.

In a question to the Solicitor General, I said “Registered Intermediaries help support children and vulnerable witnesses in court, but as BBC Wales recently reported there is only one full-time RI serving Gwent and indeed the whole of Wales. Is the Minister confident that equal access to justice is being delivered in view of this?”

The Solicitor General Robert Buckland responded by saying he had been concerned to learn of the situation, and was aware that RIs had been used in courts across Gwent and South Wales. He promised to make further enquiries into the problem and ensuring ‘equal across to intermediaries across the jurisdiction’.