Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 28
Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape
Published 12 Apr 2022
Paragraph 152
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)
We welcome the fact that the Law Commission’s project will be covering access to counselling and therapy notes and records. However, we are concerned that, as the Law Commission will not be reporting until summer 2023, victims and survivors could be left without the mental health support they need for longer than is acceptable. We recommend that the Government ask the Law Commission to publish separate recommendations on pre-trial therapy and the disclosure of counselling and therapy notes at an earlier stage in their project, preferably by the end of this year.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape (HC 193), paragraph 152, 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".