Review CSA support services expenditure (England)

63. The Government agrees that more clarity is needed on the effectiveness of public expenditure on services for victims of child sexual abuse. The recently published Victims Strategy includes commitments to undertake deep dives into key areas of support, including support for victims of child sexual abuse, and to review the provision of victim support services across Government to improve coordination and targeting of funding. In part, this will involve collating information from across departments on the methodologies they use to measure the effectiveness of spend on services for victims of child sexual abuse. The Government will present these findings to the Inquiry within one year.

64. The NHS recently published its Strategic Direction on Sexual Assault and Abuse (SAAS). Governance of SAAS is through the SAAS Partnership Board, which includes representatives from NHS England, MoJ, Home Office and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. Given its overview of the funding landscape for sexual violence, the SAAS Partnership Board has agreed that it will supervise the implementation of this recommendation.

For the purposes of this response, the Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education and the Home Office have reviewed public expenditure on services which provide support to victims and survivors who have experienced abuse rather than broader safeguarding, prevention or early intervention services (although these are referenced where the support may benefit victims and survivors of child sexual abuse). This includes all services designed specifically for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, as well as broader sexual violence funds, and covers both past expenditure (2018/19), and ongoing and future spending commitments.

On 22 July 2019, the UK Government stated that the Ministry of Justice had established a working group through which it has gathered data on the current level of public expenditure on support services for child victims and adult survivors of sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice intended to present their findings to the Inquiry by December 2019. On 26 February 2020, the Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education and the Home Office reviewed the public expenditure on services which provide support to victims and survivors who have experienced abuse rather than broader safeguarding, prevention or early intervention services. The review notes that the UK Government’s forthcoming strategy on child sexual abuse will seek to take a whole-system approach to addressing the provision of support services.