Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Twist Excerpts

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Alex Davies-Jones (Pontypridd) (Lab)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to reform the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

20. What steps his Department is taking to reform the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Liz Twist]

It is two years since the Government’s rape review, which the Secretary of State referred to earlier, but too many rape victims are still being failed by the criminal justice system, at every stage of the process. Although it is good to hear those positive reviews, too many women are not experiencing this. So what more are the Government going to do to step up the work to ensure that dealing with rape is a priority?

[Alex Chalk]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to talk about this issue, as indeed are all right hon. and hon. Members. All I respectfully plea for is some balance in the way we discuss this sensitive issue. Let me say something on the recovery that has taken place. The number of cases passed by the police, after having investigated the matter, to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration of charge is up by more than 130%; the number of cases where the CPS decides to charge is up by more than 90%; and the number of cases that come to the Crown court is up by more than 120%. I am not suggesting that the job is done—of course it is not, and we need to support victims. That is why we invest in independent domestic violence advisers and independent sexual violence advisers; why we ensure that section 28 is rolled out; and why we have the specialist sexual violence support services in court. That is why we do all these things, and will do more: it is because we want to ensure justice for victims of this appalling crime.