Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the experience of victims during the investigation of rape cases.

Our End-to-End Rape Review Action Plan sets out actions to increase the confidence of victims to come forward to report these horrendous crimes and ensure that they are dealt with professionally and sensitively during the investigation and throughout the whole Criminal Justice process.

We are committed to transforming the way the police and CPS investigate and prosecute cases towards a default investigatory model that radically shifts the focus away from victim credibility towards the suspect’s behaviour. We are also taking action to ensure that any digital material requested from victims is strictly limited to what is necessary and proportionate to allow reasonable lines of inquiry into the alleged offence, that victims are communicated with effectively throughout any digital evidence collection process and to deliver on the ambition that no victim will be left without a phone for more than 24 hours, in any circumstances.

In addition, we recognise that that access to early and continuing support is an essential factor in enabling rape victims to engage with the criminal justice system. As such, during 2021/22 £16 million has been committed to the Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Fund, providing vital funding to almost 80 local support services for victims and survivors of sexual violence and we will be increasing funding to see the number of ISVAs/IDVAs rise to over 1000 by 2024/25 because we know that the right support can help victims continue with cases.