Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to help address the under-reporting of sexual offences in England and Wales.

Rape and sexual offences are amongst the most harmful crimes in society and can have a devastating impact on victims, their loved ones and our communities.

We know that these crimes are underreported, and we are taking action to ensure victims have the confidence to report these offences and trust they will be taken seriously and supported when they do.

We have made several commitments to transform the criminal justice response to sexual offences. This includes ensuring there are specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every force by 2029, introducing free independent legal advice for adult victims of rape, and fast‑tracking rape cases.

Through the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, we are also continuing to support Operation Soteria and ensuring officers build the strongest possible, suspect‑focused cases to bring perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice.