Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 25
Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape
Published 12 Apr 2022
Paragraph 141
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee Investigation and prosecution of rape All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Given some victims and survivors’ negative experiences of the Victims’ Right to Review Scheme, we agree with Rape Crisis England and Wales that the Government require the police and the CPS to publish data covering how many cases are submitted for review, how many decisions are upheld and how many reconsidered, and the reasons for these review decisions. This data should be analysed by gender, case type, ethnicity and other factors, enabling the system to become more open. The Government should take this step as part of its work on the upcoming Victims’ Bill.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape (HC 193), paragraph 141, 12 April 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 July 2022 (deadline 12 June 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response to the Committee's report says it has made "important progress" under its Rape Review Action Plan, and it agrees with some recommendations while stating that others are for Chief Constables, the judiciary or ongoing work to determine.
- On governance, it "welcome[s] and agree[s]" with the recommendation to write to the Committee every six months, in line with the cycle of Rape Review Progress Update publications.
- On specialist police rape teams, it "agrees that specialism is crucial" but says Chief Constables "remain best placed to make decisions about the local deployment of resources".
- On a sexual violence commissioner, it recognises "there may be benefits", says the Home Office and Ministry of Justice are considering the recommendation, and will "update the Committee on progress in due course".
- On Operation Soteria, it commits £5m this year, with a national operating model for rape investigation "by June 2023", though adoption "will be a decision for operationally independent forces".