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Written Question
Rape: Trials
Wednesday 13th December 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826, what crimes were selected for the sample of case files selected by the CPS to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The CPS selected case files covering finalised proceedings flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System (CMS). A case will be flagged as ‘rape’ if it is referred to the CPS for a charging decision on one of the following offences:

  • S1 Sexual Offences Act 1956
  • S5 Sexual Offences Act 1956
  • S1 Sexual Offences Act 2003
  • S5 Sexual Offences Act 2003
  • S30(3) Sexual Offences act 2003
  • An attempt to commit any of the above offences under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981
  • Incitement or conspiracy to commit any of the above offences

Written Question
Rape: Trials
Wednesday 13th December 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826 how many case files were selected by the Crown Prosecution Service for the sample of case files selected to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The Crown Prosecution Service selected 309 case files flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System which were finalised in the calendar year 2016.


Written Question
Rape: Trials
Wednesday 13th December 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 9826 on rape: trials, over what time period the Crown Prosecution Service selected the court cases which constituted the sample of case files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history under section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The files selected for review were all cases flagged as ‘rape’ on the Case Management System which had been finalised during the calendar year 2016. This included cases which proceeded to trial and cases which resulted in guilty plea.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse
Tuesday 21st November 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for offences involving domestic violence took place in each of the last five years.

Answered by Phillip Lee

The Ministry of Justice does not hold this data either for prosecutions or convictions. Offences involving domestic abuse can take various forms and are prosecuted under the offence in law that best reflects their nature and circumstances, for example, harassment or assault occasioning actual bodily harm.


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme: Southwark
Wednesday 15th November 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency and (b) the London Borough of Southwark who were in receipt of legal aid in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The data recorded by the Legal Aid Agency does not track how many individuals have accessed legal aid in either a given period or a particular location. This is because data is based on the number of items of work completed, rather than the number of people receiving public funding, and the location of the provider as opposed to the address of the client.

Statistics broken down by local authority area (based on the location of the provider) are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-january-to-march-2017


Written Question
Rape: Trials
Monday 13th November 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials where the information on applications to use a complainant's previous sexual activity made under subsection 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 is held.

Answered by Phillip Lee

The Attorney General and the previous Justice Secretary committed to look at how the law on the admissibility of complainants’ sexual history is operating in practice.

The Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed a sample of finalised rape prosecution files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.


Written Question
Rape: Trials
Monday 13th November 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials whether any agency of his Department records information on successful and unsuccessful applications made under subsection 41(3)(c)(i) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

Answered by Phillip Lee

The Attorney General and the previous Justice Secretary committed to look at how the law on the admissibility of complainants’ sexual history is operating in practice.

The Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed a sample of finalised rape prosecution files to assess the frequency and outcome of applications seeking to introduce into rape proceedings evidence of the complainant's sexual history.


Written Question
Rape: Trials
Thursday 14th September 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 4856, on rape: trials what information is collected and by which agency of his Department on the number of rape trials in which subsection 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 has been used (a) with and (b) without an application pre-trial.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The information requested is not held centrally.


Written Question
Rape: Convictions
Tuesday 5th September 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people convicted of rape in each of the last five years in England and Wales pleaded (a) guilty and (b) not guilty.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The number of offenders found guilty of rape at the Crown Court, by plea, England & Wales, 2012 - 2016 is shown in the following table:

Offenders found guilty of rape at the Crown Court, by plea, England & Wales, 2012 - 2016 (1)(2)

Plea

Year

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Guilty

447

408

403

386

414

Not guilty

671

683

723

834

830

Total

1,118

1,091

1,126

1,220

1,244

(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Ref: PQ 6850


Written Question
Rape: Convictions
Tuesday 5th September 2017

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) number and (b) proportion of rape trials ended in conviction in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The number of offenders convicted for the offence of rape and the percentage of defendants convicted can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/614418/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-tool-2016.xlsx

Data is recorded on an offender basis and not a trial basis: the later could only be gathered at disproportionate cost.