Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle low prosecution rates for cases of rape and sexual assault.

The government remains committed to improving the Criminal Justice System response to rape and increase the number of adult rape cases reaching court. In June 2021, we published the End-to-End Rape Review Action Plan which set out a programme of work to address problems across the system and set out a public ambition to more than double the number of adult rape cases reaching court by the end of this Parliament. We continue to deliver on the cross-system Action Plan by:

• More than quadrupling funding for victim support from £41m in 2009/10 to £192m by 2024/25 and increasing the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Abuse Advisors to over 1,000 by 2024/25;

• Introducing a single source of 24/7 support for victims of rape and sexual abuse later this year;

• The police and Crown Prosecution Service are continuing to roll out a new investigatory model for rape – known as Operation Soteria – which focuses on the suspect’s, rather than the victim’s, behaviour. This has now begun operating across 19 police forces;

• This September we also completed the rollout of pre-recorded cross-examination for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences in all Crown Courts in England and Wales. This will spare victims the glare of a live courtroom;

• In June, we announced enhanced specialist sexual violence support in selected Crown Courts which includes improving facilities & technology at court, ensuring strong on-site support, improving communication with victims and better training;

• To help improve waiting times for victims of crime and reduce the Crown Court backlog, over the next three financial years, we are also investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System.

These measures are starting to have an impact. According to latest data, we are currently on-track to reach our ambitions set out in the Rape Review.