Oral Answers to Questions

Joe Robertson Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the important role that organisations such as CARA play in supporting victims of rape and serious sexual violence. Supporting victims throughout the criminal justice process is a priority for this Government, and we are taking a range of measures to do just that, including implementing Raneem’s law to embed dedicated domestic abuse teams within 999 control rooms and introducing free independent legal advisers for victims of adult rape.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

As the Solicitor General knows, I have been campaigning to support victims of spiking. I thank her for meeting me before the recess, but unfortunately the correspondence from her office subsequent to that meeting seems to entirely miss the point and does not follow at all the conversation we had. Given that it quotes heavily the CPS, will she agree to meet again with me, and with representatives from the CPS, to understand the loophole in the law that I have identified? It would be a tragedy for the victims of spiking if this were not dealt with because of something as frustrating as a misunderstanding by people who were not in the room at the time.

[The Solicitor General]

The hon. Member has done important work in this area. We met previously to discuss the potential for reckless spiking, and I entirely understand why he is concerned about that. The correspondence that we sent reflected that we had had discussions with the CPS who felt that the circumstances that he was concerned about were very unlikely to arise. However, I am more than happy to meet him again if he believes that there are issues that need to be further clarified.