Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking to increase prosecution rates for (a) sexual assault and (b) rape offences.
Answered by Alex Chalk
This Government is determined to increase the number of rape and sexual assault cases going to court.
The CPS is undertaking extensive work to drive up and improve prosecutions through its Joint National RASSO Action Plan with the police, the Rape Strategy, and the Operation Soteria Path Finders, which are testing methods for best practice in six CPS Areas.
Since publication of its strategy, the CPS has continued to see increases in the number of rape charges, prosecutions and convictions.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much funding his Department has allocated to (a) civil society and (b) campaigning bodies in each of the last three years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Attorney General’s Office has not allocated any funding to civil society or
campaigning bodies in the last three years.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Government is taking to improve the conviction rate for rape and sexual offences.
Answered by Geoffrey Cox
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to increase the number of reported rape and sexual offences that are brought to trial.
Answered by Geoffrey Cox
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that more reports of rape, attempted rape and sexual offences end in prosecution.
Answered by Geoffrey Cox
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether he has had discussions with the CPS on removing reference to the merits-based approach from (a) guidance and (b) training materials on rape and sexual offences.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Rape and serious sexual offences are horrific crimes and can have a devastating impact on victims, and the CPS will always seek to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so. The Attorney General and I regularly discuss issues related to rape and sexual offences with the CPS; however, charging decisions are made independently by the CPS.
There has been no change in policy in how the CPS makes charging decisions in rape cases. Prosecutors in the CPS follow a ‘Code’, which sets out a well-established two stage test that a case must pass before a charge can be made. The first stage of this test is the evidential stage, which considers whether there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction against each suspect on each charge. That test has remained and continues to remain the same. It applies to every single offence no matter how minor or serious.
The Code that prosecutors follow has never included any specific reference to a merits-based assessment of the realistic prospect of conviction because it is an integral part of the evidential test. The second stage of the test is whether it is in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution, this is considered after the evidential stage is fulfilled.
From 2009, DPP guidance included reference to a merits based approach.
Following an inspection by HMCPSI in 2016, it became clear that including a separate reference to the merits based approach in the guidance was causing confusion leading to the incorrect application of the code test. To avoid this confusion, changes were made to the guidance provided by the DPP to prosecutors, including removing a document on the merits based approach.
Those changes should not have, and did not have any impact on the proper application of the Code test that prosecutors follow when making a decision on whether to charge.