Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the average time it takes to prosecute an offender for rape in Wales over the last five years; and for what reason prosecutions for rape have declined in England and Wales by 70 per cent during that time.

Specific timeliness data at the stage of prosecution is owned by the CPS and the AGO. However, I am keenly aware that timeliness in rape cases is an issue nationally, and at every stage of the system. Through the data delivery dashboards, we are working with partners at local level, including in Wales, to understand specific contexts and trend analysis, and to make improvements.

In June 2021, we published the End to End Rape Review report and action plan with our plan to transform the way the criminal justice system responds to rape and increase the number of adult rape cases being charged and going to court.

Our research within this report set out that the reasons for the decline in cases reaching court are complex and wide-ranging, including an increase in personal digital data being requested, delays in investigative processes, strained relationships between different parts of the criminal justice system, a lack of specialist resources and inconsistent support to victims.

Since the report was published, we have made significant progress in delivering actions to change the system for the better. We are:

• Regularly publishing the CJS delivery data dashboard, which includes data for adult rape cases specifically. This allows us to increase transparency, increase understanding of the justice system and support collaboration, especially at a local level.
• Expanding support for victims, including creating a national 24/7 support line for victims of rape and sexual abuse, so that every victim can access support whenever and wherever they need it. We are more than quadrupling funding for victim support services, from £41m in 2009/10 to £192m by 2024/25, and using this additional ringfenced funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors (ISVAs and IDVAs) by 300, to over 1000 by 2024/25 - a 43 percent increase over the next three years.
• Establishing suspect-focused rape investigations – known as Operation Soteria – across five police forces. We will expand to 14 more by September, with a national rollout completed by June 2023.
• Boosting the number of police officers, and specialist rape and sexual offences roles within the CPS, so that they have the capacity and capability to investigate rape cases more effectively. The CPS has committed to increasing its rape and serious sexual offences workforce by 194 – from 433 – by the end of March 2023.
• Expanding pre-recorded cross-examination (Section 28) for victims of sexual violence and modern slavery in Crown Courts nationwide – with this vital measure now available in almost half of all Crown Courts (37 locations). The Government is committed to rolling it out nationwide by September.

Alongside our progress update published in June, we additionally announced a pilot of enhanced specialist sexual violence support in the Crown Court. This is aimed squarely at doing better by rape victims, giving them the support they need to stay engaged in the process and get the justice they deserve.

We are starting to see the results of these interventions. Rape convictions were up by 67% in 2021 compared to 2020, and 27% compared to 2019.

We are committed to going further and pushing harder on our actions so that we see bigger impacts, deliver wider system change and crucially, deliver justice for victims of rape and sexual abuse.