Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing additional safeguards to protect victims of rape, including the bail conditions of those charged with rape.

We recognise the devastating impact sexual violence can have and are absolutely committed to tackling rape and sexual offences and achieving the best possible outcome for victims.

We are providing £13.1m to the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP), which is driving forward Operation Soteria, ensuring police forces better support and safeguard victims of rape and use every tool at their disposal to disrupt perpetrators and bring them to justice. Tools including imposing appropriate bail conditions and applying for protective orders, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Sexual Risk Orders at the earliest opportunity.

We know there is further to go to ensure people have the confidence to report these offences and trust they will be taken seriously when they do. We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available to tackle sexual crimes.

This includes ensuring there are specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force and introducing independent legal advice for victims of adult rape, to help them to uphold their legal rights.

We are going further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG), underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published as soon as possible.