Part 1: Victims of Criminal Conduct Victims’ Code Section 3: Preparing and issuing the Victims’ Code
Section 3 restates the procedure for issuing and amending the Code as set out under section 33 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. However, historic references to the Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for the Home Department have been amended to refer instead to "the Secretary of State", which is defined in the Interpretation Act 1978 and means one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State. In practice this power is expected to be exercised by the Secretary of State for Justice acting in consultation with the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Subsections (6)-(8) set out the procedure for the new Code to be laid in Parliament and provide for it to be brought into operation.
	Section 3 restates the obligation for the Secretary of State to consult the Attorney General and also includes new statutory consultees - Welsh Ministers and the Victims’ Commissioner.