Oral Answers to Questions

Justin Madders Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2019 Commons Chamber

The Attorney General was asked—

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

1. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to support (a) victims and (b) witnesses giving evidence in court.

[The Solicitor General (Lucy Frazer)]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about how the justice system supports those who come before it, and witnesses and victims are an important part of that. One way in which the CPS supports victims and witnesses is through the pre-recording of cross-examination evidence, which takes considerable pressure off vulnerable witnesses. Following a successful pilot in three locations, the scheme was rolled out last month to a further six courts, including in Chester.

[Justin Madders]

The latest Home Office figures show that only 1.7% of reported rape cases even reach the charging stage, so what measures has the CPS put in place to support rape victims giving evidence? What is being done to support the other 98.3% of victims?

[The Solicitor General]

The CPS takes seriously its role in ensuring that prosecutions do come before the courts. As the hon. Gentleman will know, a cross-governmental review into rape and sexual offences is under way and has already completed its first stage of collecting evidence. We are now looking at the whole system for rape and other serious sexual offences to see how we can improve every stage, including getting more prosecutions and convictions.