Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to help ensure that jury members in trials involving rape and sexual assault (a) are aware of issues around sexual consent and (b) do not hold views on what constitutes consensual sexual contact which differ from legislation.

Jurors are directed on the law by the trial judge who reminds them of their role and, importantly, of the relevant points of law.

Judges sitting on serious sex offence cases are required to have specialist training and are provided with guidance in the Crown Court Compendium (a publicly available document). This includes guidance on how to advise juries in serious sexual offence cases.

In addition, as part of the End-to-End Rape Review Report on Findings and Actions, published in June 2021, the Government announced that the Law Commission will be examining the law, guidance and practice relating to the use of evidence in prosecutions of serious sexual offences and consider the need for reform. The project will consider issues including the way rape myths around consent are tackled as part of the court process.