Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 32
Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape
Published 12 Apr 2022
Paragraph 162
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)
The actions the CPS is taking to drive up the number of rape prosecutions are positive and to be welcomed. However, given the continued low volume of rape prosecutions, and the concerns we heard around the gap between policy and practice, we would suggest that the CPS publish the outcomes of its assessment of the organisation’s progress against the success measures set out in RASSO 2025 on a regular basis. The recent publication of the Rape Strategy update is a welcome step toward this end. We would further suggest that the CPS and the police publish progress against delivery of the Police-CPS Joint National RASSO Action Plan (JNAP) on an annual basis on both the CPS and NPCC websites as initially promised. We would also like to see a reviewed and updated version of the JNAP as soon as possible, following the publication of the End-to-End Rape Review and the findings of Phases One and Two of the joint thematic inspection of the police and the CPS’s response to rape. This should not be published any later than the Summer of 2022 as has now been promised. We believe acting on these suggestions will be important in building public confidence, if it can be demonstrated that actions taken have positively affected the volumes of rape prosecutions.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Eighth Report - Investigation and prosecution of rape (HC 193), paragraph 162, 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".