Oral Answers to Questions Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Dinenage Excerpts
Tuesday 5th November 2024

(2 days, 5 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Alex Davies-Jones Portrait Alex Davies-Jones
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question; he raises some serious points. The Ministry of Justice funds over 60 specialist support services for victims of rape and sexual offending as well as dedicated victim support through the witness service. Court personnel provide support during and after hearings, and we have invested in trauma-informed training to improve the victim experience throughout court.

Rape and serious sexual offence victims can also request transcripts of sentencing remarks for free during a one-year pilot. I encourage all those who are eligible please to apply to the pilot.

Caroline Dinenage Portrait Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Will the hon. Lady please confirm the number of criminals convicted of rape, sexual abuse, domestic abuse and domestic violence who are now back on our streets as a result of her Department’s early release scheme?

Alex Davies-Jones Portrait Alex Davies-Jones
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

As the hon. Lady will know, the Government took steps to exclude the most serious domestic abuse offenders from SDS40, an exemption that was not made under the previous Government’s end-of-custody supervised licence scheme. That was because we know that we need to protect women and girls, and we have a landmark mission to protect women and girls from violence. All the data on releases will be published as usual—the Lord Chancellor has made that clear—but we know that we need to do more.