Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of officials in his Department have undergone specialist training on working with victims of sexual assault in a court environment.

Training provided to court staff is not restricted to victims of sexual assault but covers all vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses. All court staff who interact with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses are provided with the relevant training via e-learning and face to face training to help support them in this role. There are two principal training courses: Crown & Magistrates Court Witness Liaison Officer Awareness training and Vulnerable & Intimidated Witnesses Awareness training for court ushers.

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service remains committed to training court staff who come into direct contact with victims and witnesses in the court environment, and has pledged to set ‘specific job objectives on the care of victims’ for operational staff by April 2015.