Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826, what method the CPS used to select the sample of case files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history under s.41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The CPS randomly selected 2 case files from each calendar month in 2016 flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System for every CPS area in England and Wales.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826, at which grades of staffing are Crown Prosecution Service staff selected to review the sample of case files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The cases were reviewed by Senior Crown Prosecutors (Grade 7) or above.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826, what crimes were selected for the sample of case files selected by the CPS to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The CPS selected case files covering finalised proceedings flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System (CMS). A case will be flagged as ‘rape’ if it is referred to the CPS for a charging decision on one of the following offences:
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826 how many case files were selected by the Crown Prosecution Service for the sample of case files selected to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Crown Prosecution Service selected 309 case files flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System which were finalised in the calendar year 2016.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826 on rape: trials, over what time period the Crown Prosecution Service selected the court cases which constituted the sample of case files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history under section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The files selected for review were all cases flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System which had been finalised during the calendar year 2016. This included cases which proceeded to trial and cases which resulted in guilty plea.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for offences involving domestic violence took place in each of the last five years.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Ministry of Justice does not hold this data either for prosecutions or convictions. Offences involving domestic abuse can take various forms and are prosecuted under the offence in law that best reflects their nature and circumstances, for example, harassment or assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency and (b) the London Borough of Southwark who were in receipt of legal aid in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The data recorded by the Legal Aid Agency does not track how many individuals have accessed legal aid in either a given period or a particular location. This is because data is based on the number of items of work completed, rather than the number of people receiving public funding, and the location of the provider as opposed to the address of the client.
Statistics broken down by local authority area (based on the location of the provider) are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-january-to-march-2017
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials where the information on applications to use a complainant's previous sexual activity made under subsection 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 is held.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Attorney General and the previous Justice Secretary committed to look at how the law on the admissibility of complainants’ sexual history is operating in practice.
The Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed a sample of finalised rape prosecution files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials whether any agency of his Department records information on successful and unsuccessful applications made under subsection 41(3)(c)(i) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Attorney General and the previous Justice Secretary committed to look at how the law on the admissibility of complainants’ sexual history is operating in practice.
The Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed a sample of finalised rape prosecution files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials what information is collected and by which agency of his Department on the number of rape trials in which subsection 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 has been used (a) with and (b) without an application pre-trial.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The information requested is not held centrally.