Rape: Prosecutions

(asked on 2nd November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the recent report by the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, what steps the Government plans to take to tackle the annual and proportionate decline in the (a) number of rape cases considered by the CPS and (b) conviction rate among those cases since 2016-17.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 10th November 2020

The Government recognises that the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences being charged and prosecuted in England and Wales is a cause for significant concern. That is why we are carrying out an end-to end review of how the Criminal Justice System responds to rape. Through this review we are working with operational partners from across the Criminal Justice system including the police, CPS and victims’ groups to ensure we can improve the way rape cases are dealt with.

We welcome the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner’s research and will consider its findings carefully. The Government is intending to publish its initial findings and recommendations for action before the end of the year, and is committed to continuing to work after that publication to make further changes to improve the system in the longer term.

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