PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Sexual Assault Referral Centres: Domestic Abuse (21 November 2023)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 8 June 2022 to Question 11698 on Domestic Abuse: Sexual Assault Referral Centres, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres.

Asked by:
Jess Phillips (Labour)

The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Service Specification as reviewed and updated in June 2023 now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation. The specification states ‘Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation.’ It also references the Institute for Addressing Strangulation guidelines. From April 2024, all SARCs will collect data on incidences of non-fatal strangulation where it is part of a sexual assault/rape and thus has necessitated attendance at a SARC.

Answered by:
Maria Caulfield (Conservative)
27 November 2023