Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2018 to Question 133789 on Sexual Offences: Newcastle upon Tyne, what long-term funding his Department has made available to support the adult victims of (a) sexual abuse and (b) exploitation identified by Operation Sanctuary.

This information is held by the Ministry of Justice, which holds primary responsibility for funding of victim support services.

The Government has made a commitment under the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020 to ensure funding for rape support services is maintained throughout the Spending Review period. We continue to meet that commitment.

In 2016/17 and 2017/18 the MoJ protected funding of over £6.2million to 85 female Rape Support Centres across England and Wales to provide independent, specialist support to female victims of rape and sexual violence. In addition, the MoJ has provided an uplift of £1.71m to these centres as a consequence of the increased demand from adult victims of historic sexual abuse.

In Northumbria, the MoJ is providing £265,870 (including £60,000 uplift to support victims of child sexual abuse) to four rape support centres. We have protected the same level of funding for 2018/19.

In each of the last three years, Government has provided £7million funding for non-statutory organisations supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence, including child sexual abuse and exploitation. In 2016/17 and 2017/18:

• £1.71 million was allocated as an uplift to MoJ funded female rape support centres,
• £4.7 million was provided directly to PCCs to support organisations working with victims and survivors of CSA locally
• £0.6 million was distributed directly by the Home Office to organisations working with victims and survivors of sexual abuse over a large geographic area.