Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to recommendation 16 of the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in October 2022, what recent progress his Department has made in helping ensure that (a) the (i) UK and (ii) Welsh Government introduce a national guarantee that child victims of sexual abuse will be offered specialist and accredited therapeutic support and (b) these services are fully funded.

The Victims’ Code sets out the services and support that victims of crime are entitled to receive from the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Under this Code, all victims, including children, are entitled to access victim support services they may need to help them cope and recover from the impact of a crime. When they report a crime, they have the right to receive information about and be referred to support services by the police, including therapy and counselling within two working days. This is regardless of whether anyone has been charged or convicted of a criminal offence or when the crime itself occurred. They can also access support services directly.

We are quadrupling funding for support services by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10. This has allowed us to increase specialist services for survivors of sexual abuse. For example, we are increasing the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers in England and Wales, including those specifically supporting children, by 300 to over 1,000 by 2024/25 - a 43 percent increase over this spending review period. We have also recommissioned the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which is providing £26 million between August 2023 and March 2025 to more than 60 specialist victim support services in England and Wales.