PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Armed Forces: Crimes of Violence (11 April 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cases of (a) rape, (b) sexual assault and (c) domestic violence were (i) reported to the Royal Military Police, (ii) referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors and (iii) directed for trial in each year since 2009.

Asked by:
Karl Turner (Independent)

The information requested is provided in the following table:

Year	Rape			Sexual Assault			Domestic Violence
	Reported to RMP	Referral received by SPA	Directed for Trial	Reported to RMP	Referral received by SPA	Directed for Trial	Referral received by SPA	Directed for Trial
2009	25	16	10	60	24	10
2010	20	20	7	62	42	24	32	10
2011	20	18	5	46	59	26	60	30
2012	23	20	9	34	27	14	22	11
2013	24	15	8	46	34	18	51	25
2014	25	12	7	36	41	21	66	36
2015	16	27	13	35	47	17	41	20

It is important to note that due to the serious nature of the offences and the time taken to investigate them, there may be a period of time between the reporting of the offence to the Royal Military Police (RMP) and its subsequent referral to the Service Prosecution Authority (SPA). Therefore reporting and subsequent referral and direction to trial may not all take place in the same calendar year. Furthermore, the figures for cases reported to the RMP may include some incidents which have been reported for information purposes only, which are within the jurisdiction of the civilian police to investigate.

Rape statistics are offences and attempted offences as defined by Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Sexual Assault statistics are offences and attempted offences as defined by Section 2 and 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Assault by Penetration and Sexual Assault).

The RMP refer cases to both the SPA and a Commanding Officer (CO). All offences under Section 1 and 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 are referred directly to the SPA. Offences under Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 are referred to a CO. The table above does not include referrals to the CO.

Domestic violence is not a crime classification, but may be recorded under the crime classification of violence, for example, assault, battery or grievous bodily harm. For the RMP to establish which offences are as a result of domestic violence would require an individual review of all cases, which could be provided only at disproportionate cost. SPA figures for Domestic Violence are only available from 2010 when the SPA started to record Domestic Violence as a separate offence.

These are not designated Official Defence Statistics.

Answered by:
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative)
14 April 2016