My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Mr Gerry Sutcliffe, has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government are committed to rebalancing the criminal justice system in favour of victims and the law-abiding majority.
It is wrong for convicted criminals to profit from their crimes now or in the future, whether directly from the proceeds of the crime itself or indirectly through cashing in on the story of their crime. It is contrary to the principles of natural justice that they should be able to exploit for financial gain crimes which have devastated the lives of victims and their families.
Together with the Scottish Executive and my ministerial colleague at the Northern Ireland Office, the honourable Member for Delyn, we will be publishing on Friday 10 November a consultation paper setting out a range of possible options for tackling this problem.
I will be placing copies of the consultation in the House Libraries. We would welcome comments on the proposals it contains.