Offences against Children: Criminal Proceedings

(asked on 5th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the backlog in the criminal justice system of cases involving sexual abuse of children and young people on victims and their families.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 12th November 2020

The Government is committed to understanding and mitigating the impact that caseloads in the criminal justice system are having on victims, including victims of child sexual abuse.

Part of this is achieved through ensuring that criminal courts’ recovery remains on track. We are making excellent progress and now have over 250 jury rooms open. Further courtrooms will continue to be made available in the existing estate and in Nightingale courts. Young victims of sexual abuse will also benefit from the accelerated rollout of the Section 28 (Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence (YJCE) Act 1999) (pre-recorded cross examination and re-examination) service for vulnerable witnesses, which includes all children under 18.

To support victims of childhood sexual abuse in their recovery, we have doubled the funding available for voluntary sector organisations providing direct support to victims and survivors of abuse at a national level to £2.4 million until 2022. This will provide vital national services including support lines, online resources and remote counselling.

The Ministry of Justice has also awarded £12 million to 91 rape support centres across England and Wales to provide independent, specialist support to female and male victims of sexual violence. This is an increase of £4 million from 2019/20 and includes £1.8 million of ringfenced funding for victims of recent and non-recent child sexual abuse. This new funding is in addition to the £4.8 million per annum already provided to Police and Crime Commissioners by the MoJ to support victims of child sexual abuse (part of the £69m provided this year for them to commission victim support services based on local need).

Reticulating Splines