Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting a target for uptake of training on violence against women and girls for criminal justice practitioners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving the capability and confidence of criminal justice practitioners in responding to violence against women and girls (VAWG), and training is embedded across the criminal justice system to support this.
Training is delivered and monitored by the relevant criminal justice organisation or body. For example, probation staff receive a comprehensive national learning offer that includes mandatory and advanced modules on domestic abuse, stalking and safeguarding. CPS prosecutors receive role-appropriate training on VAWG, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to handle these cases effectively. In the criminal courts, we have announced that we will make trauma-informed training focused on domestic and sexual abuse available to all staff employed by HMCTS.
Training for the judiciary and the Bar is delivered independently by the Judicial College and the Bar Standards Board, who set and review their own requirements. To preserve judicial independence, the statutory responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lady Chief Justice.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy, what proportion of the £550 million funding for victim and survivor support services over the next three years will be directed to (a) Specialist services run by and for the community and (b) other domestic abuse services.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government has committed to halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade. That is why we are investing £550 million over the next three years for victim and witness support services. The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including domestic abuse. This includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion based on their assessment of local need, and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. It is for PCCs to decide how much of their funding will be directed to specialist services run by and for the community, and other domestic abuse services.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure that rape victims are given clear (a) communication and (b) timelines for progressing their cases.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to improving victims and survivors of rape’s experience of the justice system. We recognise that rape cases often take longer to progress through the courts, and that delays can have a profound impact on victims’ wellbeing and confidence in the criminal justice process.
To ensure clear communication with victims in the pre-trial period, every Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) area now has at least one dedicated Victim Liaison Officer in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are offered to all adult victims of these crimes and the CPS have also delivered trauma-informed training to staff as part of their Victim Transformation Programme.
We are also committed to tackling the outstanding caseload to improve timeliness - we have already doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that Crown Courts can focus on the most serious cases, and this year we have funded a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown Court sitting days. We also commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims, including for victims of sexual violence, in his Independent Review of Criminal Courts. We will respond to the recommendations in the first part of the Independent Review in due course.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish (a) plans and (b) a timeframe for reducing the time taken to bring rape cases to court.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to improving victims and survivors of rape’s experience of the justice system. We recognise that rape cases often take longer to progress through the courts, and that delays can have a profound impact on victims’ wellbeing and confidence in the criminal justice process.
To ensure clear communication with victims in the pre-trial period, every Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) area now has at least one dedicated Victim Liaison Officer in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are offered to all adult victims of these crimes and the CPS have also delivered trauma-informed training to staff as part of their Victim Transformation Programme.
We are also committed to tackling the outstanding caseload to improve timeliness - we have already doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that Crown Courts can focus on the most serious cases, and this year we have funded a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown Court sitting days. We also commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims, including for victims of sexual violence, in his Independent Review of Criminal Courts. We will respond to the recommendations in the first part of the Independent Review in due course.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, published on 3 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of incorporating (a) economic, (b) social and (c) cultural rights into domestic law.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have made no such assessment. United Nations human rights treaties do not require States to incorporate them into domestic law, and we are confident that we comply fully with our UN treaty obligations.