Rape: Prosecutions and Support Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Rape: Prosecutions and Support

Lord Pannick Excerpts
Tuesday 29th November 2022

(1 year, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Pannick Portrait Lord Pannick (CB)
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My Lords, in January this year, the Ministry of Justice said in answer to a Parliamentary Question from the shadow Attorney-General, Emily Thornberry, that the typical delay between an offence of alleged rape occurring and the completion of the resulting criminal trial was 1,000 days. That is a shocking statistic. What is the Ministry of Justice doing about this?

Lord Bellamy Portrait Lord Bellamy (Con)
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There are several steps. There is the reference from the police to the CPS, the CPS charging decision, the CPS bringing a case, the delay in the court and so forth. Delays in the court are still a problem and have unfortunately been made worse by the barristers’ strike. Other delays have been reduced. All I can say to the noble Lord is that we are working as hard as we can to address this problem.