The policy memorandum (para 44) seeks to justify the approach taken in the Bill as a protection for vulnerable witnesses:
This approach is considered appropriate as it ensures that the court can take account of any particular vulnerability of the victim, without requiring COPFS to prove that the victim did in fact suffer physical or psychological harm, which might in many cases require the victim to give evidence to the court of the harm that they suffered and risks re-victimising the victim by forcing them to re-live...