Recommendation 1

HM Government Accepted

When we published the End-to-End Rape Review Findings and Action Plan (‘the Rape Review’) in June 2021, we set out that it was unacceptable that the system was failing so many victims of rape and stated that we were determined to create system-wide change. A year on from publication, we are beginning to see a modest increase in the volumes of cases progressing through the system. The second Rape Review Progress Update that we published on 16 June –one year on from the Rape Review – showed the progress that we have made over the last year. It also set out what we will deliver over the coming months to continue to improve each stage of the criminal justice system. We have not limited our efforts to the actions set out in the Rape Review Action Plan and have already gone further than the Action Plan in several respects. In our second Rape Review Progress Update, we announced the expansion of Operation Soteria into a further 14 police force areas. We also announced that we are launch pilots of enhanced specialist sexual violence support in three Crown Courts to improve the support on offer in court for victims of sexual violence and increase the volume of cases going through the system. We have also gone further than the ambition in the Rape Review to expand the pilot of section 28 for sexual and modern slavery complainants, so that it is available in 37 Crown Court locations. We are working with the police, judiciary and the CPS to make section 28 available for this cohort in the Crown Court nationally as soon as possible. Between our first and second Rape Review Progress Updates, we added a further eighth lever focusing on police and CPS requests for third-party material, which can include a victims’ education, medical or local authority records. Requests for too much or unnecessary information make victims and their credibility the focus of an investigation. This can be challenging for victims, particularly when that information is sensitive, and it can also cause delays to investigations. On 26 May, the Government launched a consultation to gather more insight and evidence on this issue and to work to ensure that police and CPS requests for third-party material are made appropriately. The Action Plan recognised that transparency and greater scrutiny would be critical in driving improvements to the system. We have put in place clear cross-system governance structures to track progress and hold partners to account for delivery. This includes the Ministerially chaired Rape Review Taskforce, and the Rape Review Steering Committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and attended by Ministers from the Home Office, the Attorney General, Solicitor General and the Director of Public Prosecutions. In addition, as the Committee is aware, we have worked collaboratively with partners across the criminal justice system to develop the criminal justice system (CJS) delivery data dashboard (previously referred to as scorecards) for all crime and recorded adult rape offences. These are published quarterly, which is a greater frequency than the commitment made in the Rape Review. The first national dashboard was published in December 2021 and represents a transformative change to the way we understand data in the CJS. By closely monitoring this data on a quarterly basis, we will be better able to identify, implement, and evaluate interventions to drive improvements and share best practice. In March, we published the second national dashboard and the first local dashboard, and on 16 June we published the third national and second local data dashboard. We know rape cases, which are among the most complex, take time to investigate. We also know that the cultural change needed—both within the criminal justice system and more widely in society—is significant and that it will take time. Although we are seeing a slow initial increase in the number of charges, we expect this increase to gather pace as the actions being taken forward by the Government and operational partners begin to bed in. We use the CJS delivery data dashboards and the Rape Review governance to work collaboratively with operational partners and hold each part of the system to account. In the spirit of the transparency that we have committed to in the Rape Review, we welcome and agree with the recommendation to write to the Committee every six months in line with the cycle of Rape Review Progress Update publications.