Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that all police forces in England contain a dedicated rape and serious sexual offences unit; and what estimate he has made of how quickly those units could be established in all forces.
We recognise that having police officers with the right skills is critical in ensuring rape and sexual offences cases are managed appropriately and effectively. We are supporting the police to ensure this is the case through:
The deployment of officers and structure of forces is ultimately an operational matter for Chief Constables as there will be different considerations in different force areas.