Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release entitled Overhaul of criminal justice system delivers significant improvement for rape victims, published on 10 July 2023, how many extra police officers have been trained in investigating rape and sexual offences.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

We recognise that specialist skills and knowledge is critical to ensuring rape and sexual offence cases are progressed and managed effectively.

We are supporting the College of Policing to improve the learning and development offer available to officers on rape and sexual offences. This includes developing new, academic-informed, training for investigators and officers likely to make initial contact with victims.

In July, we also announced that 2,000 officers will complete new specialist training on investigating these crimes by April, which will mean more officers building stronger cases and placing victims at the heart of their response. The College of Policing are confident that this commitment will be met and we will provide a further update shortly.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police officers working in Child Abuse Investigation Teams had completed training in rape and sexual offences investigations by 12 March 2024, broken down by police force.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises that having police officers with the right skills is critical in ensuring child abuse investigations are progressed and managed effectively. Given policing is operationally independent, it is the responsibility of Chief Constables to manage the allocation of officers to different crime types and to ensure they are appropriately trained and equipped to undertake investigations. The Home Office therefore does not hold the specific information requested.

The Government continues to invest in a range of work to strengthen law enforcement capacity and capability to tackle child sexual abuse, including developing and delivering an effective and victim-focused response. This includes funding policing’s Vulnerability, Knowledge and Practice Programme which aims to improve and coordinate police practice in protecting vulnerable people, including identifying and sharing best practice across police forces, as well as improving partnership responses.

Additionally, the College of Policing has developed the Specialist Child Abuse Investigators: Development Programme (SCAIDIP) - a specialist course aimed at developing investigators working within the child abuse investigation arena.

And in July 2023, the Government also announced that 2,000 officers will complete new specialist training on investigating rape and serious sexual offences by April this year. This will mean more officers building stronger cases and placing victims at the heart of their response. The College of Policing is confident that this commitment will be met.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of having subtitles switched on as a default for children's television programmes and films on children's literacy levels.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department has recently made an assessment of the evidence behind the Turn on the Subtitles campaign and the current evidence is inconclusive as to whether turning on the subtitles improves children’s reading. It is the choice of parents and carers whether their child watches television with the subtitles on.

The government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently. There is a supportive package of measures in place which aims to benefit the most disadvantaged pupils and is a key step in our mission to level up education standards in England. This includes the £67 million English Hubs programme which is now in its sixth year of delivery. It also incorporates the updated Reading Framework, an updated list of validated phonics programmes, funding for the purchase of phonics programmes and the National Professional Qualification in Leading Literacy.