Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of victims of rape who withdrew their complaint after reporting it to the police in each of the last five years.

Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes that can have a long-lasting impact on victims. We have taken a hard and honest look at how the criminal justice system deals with rape; in too many instances it is simply not good enough. We apologised at the time for this and will not rest until we have delivered real improvements – transforming support for victims, ensuring cases are investigated fully and pursued rigorously through the courts.

We know that rape and sexual offences are still all too often hidden crimes, and we want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward to report them to the police. The large increase in the latest figures is likely to reflect both more victims coming forward to report sexual offences in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 and more latterly the re-opening of the night-time economy following COVID restrictions easing.

It is key that we must ensure that victims receive their rights under the Victims’ Code, which, together with improving the provision of support services, will mean more victims should have the confidence and support they need to stay engaged in the justice process. Our plans for the Victims’ Bill to improve accountability and ensure victims feel supported are critical to improve victim engagement.

The Home Office does not hold information on the precise number of rape offences recorded by the police where the victim withdrew their complaint after reporting it. The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of rape offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and the number of these offences where the investigation was closed as the victim did not support any further action. This also includes cases which were reported by a third party where the victim did not wish to report an offence, and those where the victim is unable to support further investigation for another reason. The latest statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables