PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Sexual Offences (2 September 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on the Government's review of the handling of rape and sexual violence cases across the criminal justice system; what resources have been allocated to that review; and what steps her Department has taken to improve access to counselling and therapeutic support for people who have reported rape to the police in the last 12 months.

Asked by:
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour)

a) The decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged and prosecuted has, rightly, been the subject of public scrutiny and concern. It is essential that we grasp this issue, which is why the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of the Criminal Justice System’s (CJS) response to serious sexual violence and rape where the victim is over 18. We have established a Sub-Group of the CJB to oversee this review.

The review is now well underway. The Cabinet Office have concluded initial analysis to identify key areas that merit further investigation. We are now gathering evidence and data from key groups and agencies across the CJS to enable us to better understand how handling and outcomes for rape cases could be improved. We continue to engage regularly with specialist stakeholders and victim organisations to ensure that the victim experience is central to our work.

We have committed to publish a cross-system action plan at the conclusion of the review in Spring 2020. In efforts to accelerate the review, we will develop a set of interim recommendations before the end of the year.

b) The review is being conducted by a cross-Government team comprised of officials from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office and Crown Prosecution Service, with support from the National Policing Lead for Adult Sexual Offences.

c) Rape is a horrendous crime. It is essential that victims of rape have access to support when and where they need it most. In March this year we increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCCs to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
9 September 2019