Question to the Attorney General:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to increase the number of prosecutions for offences relating to violence against women and girls.

Tackling offending against women and girls is a priority for this Government, as shown by the introduction of the landmark Domestic Abuse (DA) Act.

The CPS is working hard to deliver justice and protect the public and has recently published an ambitious 12-month domestic abuse programme to help narrow the disparity between reporting and criminal justice outcomes.

Rape and serious sexual offences can also disproportionately affect women and girls. The CPS is committed to securing justice in every possible rape case, which means significantly increasing the number they bring to court, year on year. It is improving collaboration with police and other partners to take an offender-centric approach to building these cases, expanding its specialist RASSO units and improving the support it gives rape victims.

The Ministry of Justice are investing £27m to create 700 new posts for Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, and that figure will increase to 1000 by the end of 2024/2025. In order to support victims throughout the criminal justice process.