Operation Soteria

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con)]

My Lords, I am again grateful for that contribution from the noble Lord, who of course speaks from his professional insight and great experience in investigating and superintending police officers working on this. I am aware that there is objective data about jury responses to crimes available which is the result of meticulous study in England and Wales. I can also assure the noble Lord and the House that we as a Government are working with the Law Commissions in relation to that.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, protection for victims is a key part of how we will see improvements here, and the Government’s end-to-end rape review action plan committed to reducing unnecessary and disproportionate requests for personal information. Can my noble and learned friend the Minister update me on progress in this area?

[Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con)]

Once again, my noble friend makes an exceptionally important point. Progress on the implementation of Operation Soteria has touched on matters such as the essential aspect of possession and use of a mobile phone. People nowadays are entirely dependent on their phones in all sorts of ways. As the noble Baroness and other noble Lords who have contributed will appreciate, mobile phones are often pivotal in the investigation and accumulation of sufficient evidence with which to bring a charge. We are taking steps, and the Soteria principles set out, so that phones will be away from people for one day at the most.