PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Armed Forces: Crimes of Violence (17 June 2014)

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:
Emily Thornberry (Labour)

The table below shows the number of cases of rape and sexual assault reported to the Royal Military Police, which of those were referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors and which were directed for trial since 2009.

These represent any case worldwide where the Royal Military Police has jurisdiction. Decisions to direct cases for trial are taken by the independent Service Prosecuting Authority.

Year	Number of rape cases reported to the Royal Military Police	Number of rape cases referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors	Number of rape cases directed for trial[1]
2009	20	15	10
2010	20	10	10
2011	20	15	5
2012	20	15	10
2013	20	5	10

Year	Number of sexual assault cases reported to the Royal Military Police	Number of sexual assault cases referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors	Number of sexual assault cases directed for trial1
2009	60	30	10
2010	65	45	30
2011	50	30	40
2012	35	25	25
2013	45	30	25

The figures have been rounded to the nearest five.The specific figure has not been disclosed to ensure that the alleged victim(s) cannot be identified. This is in line with the Sexual Offences (Amendments) Act 1976 and 1992.

Because of the way domestic violence statistics are recorded it is taking some time to collate the information. I will write to the hon. Member with an answer shortly.

[1] The figures relating to referrals and directions for trial use the date of referral receipt as the base line. The Service Prosecuting Authority often receive referrals in one year and the cases are directed, disposed and/or tried in the following year. As such there is no direct correlation to the number of cases brought in any one year. Over a period of time the figures may well fluctuate as additional referrals are either directed or non-instituted.

Answered by:
Anna Soubry (The Independent Group for Change)
25 June 2014