Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specialised training medical professionals have for using rape kits and medical assessments of victims of sexual assault aged 16 and under.

The Department has not issued guidance in the procedure for using rape kits on children under 16 and the gender of the medical professional using that rape kit. The Government supported the recommendation made by the independent review by Baroness Stern into how rape complaints are handled by public authorities that there should be the choice of a male or female forensic physician to undertake the examination. Medical professionals should be sufficiently trained and clinically supervised to comply with guidance from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine.