Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of proposed changes in the status and treatment of sexual abuse victims on the way in which police forces deal with such cases.

The Home Office has no plans to change the status and treatment of victims of sexual abuse. It is essential that those reporting serious crimes to the police are treated as victims. The police should focus on the credibility of the allegation rather than the credibility of the witness or victim. Accepting that a person has been a victim of crime does not automatically mean accepting that a specific allegation is credible.