Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information

(asked on 12th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, with reference to her Department's policy on allowing the police and Crown Prosecution Service to scrutinise counselling records of victims of sexual violence, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a (a) presumption of non-disclosure and (b) requirement that requests for notes could only be made once a suspect had been arrested and charged.


Answered by
Michael Tomlinson Portrait
Michael Tomlinson
Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
This question was answered on 19th December 2022

The requirement to disclose material which might reasonably be considered capable of undermining the case for the prosecution against the accused or of assisting the case for the accused is set by legislation, and not by the Disclosure Guidelines. The revised Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022 introduced increased privacy protections for victims in respect of their counselling notes being accessed during the course of a criminal investigation. Prior written reasons must be recorded before accessing counselling notes of victims, and access can only occur where it is necessary and proportionate. The Home Office has also recently concluded a consultation on police requests for personal records (‘third party material’). The response to this consultation and next steps will be published shortly.

Reticulating Splines