Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 32
32
Accepted
Progress on RASSO 2025 and JNAP requires regular, updated publication to build public confidence.
Recommendation
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 This should not be published any later than the Summer of 2022 as has now been promised.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. (Paragraph 162) Rape offences and the courts
Government Response Summary
The CPS published a Rape Strategy Update in February 2022, and the CPS and NPCC committed to providing regular updates against key strategies. The refreshed Police-CPS Joint National RASSO Action Plan (JNAP) was soft-launched in June and formally published in Summer 2022, as recommended.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In February 2022, the CPS published a Rape Strategy Update which details the progress it has made since the publication of its five-year strategy on Rape and Serious Sexual Offences—RASSO 2025—in July 2020, as well as new activities that we have commenced since that publication. The Update included a data section which highlighted the significant work the CPS still has to do, alongside demonstrating that the decline in cases has halted, and is showing slight recent improvements and signs of system recovery. The CPS and NPCC have committed to providing regular updates on progress against key strategies and action plans and are working to refresh the JNAP, which was published in January 2021. This is being delivered using a theory of change methodology to test both operational agencies on the outcomes they are working towards and the impact they want from the programme of work. The refreshed JNAP was soft launched at a joint CPS- NPCC conference on 15 June and be formally published in the Summer.