Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to reduce the number of cases of sexual offences waiting to be heard in the crown court.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and are working closely with the judiciary and other partners to improve the experience of court users. We have introduced a raft of measures to achieve that aim, including funding over 100,000 sitting days last year and planning to deliver the same again this year. We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation of our court buildings over the next two years as well as investing in judicial recruitment, so that we expect to recruit more than 1,000 judges by the end of 2023/2024.
We have invested a significant amount of extra money for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime. We have opened extra courtrooms, and continued hearings, alongside quadrupling funding for victims’ services so victims get the support they need throughout the process. Judges prioritise cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, and seek to ensure that domestic abuse, serious sex cases and those with vulnerable witnesses are listed at the first available opportunity.
In June 2022, we announced our Specialist Sexual Violence Support (SSVS) project in three Crown Courts, to improve the support on offer in court for victims of rape and improve timeliness of cases going through the system. This includes trauma-informed training for all staff at courts who come into contact with victims, improved facilities and technology, and at least one Case Coordinator at each court.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people convicted of assault in a domestic context who were charged with the offence of common assault under Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data requested. Offences involving domestic abuse can take various forms and are prosecuted under the offence in law that best reflects their nature and circumstances, for example, assault or harassment. These offences can take the form of domestic abuse or non-domestic abuse and data collected from courts does not distinguish between the two.
This Government continues to take concerted action to pursue perpetrators of domestic abuse. We have:
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to encourage workplaces to (a) promote positive cultural change and (b) prevent harmful attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence against women.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Department works closely with and promotes organisations that seek to improve the employer's response to domestic abuse, including with the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant (EDAC).
In addition, through the Employers Engagement Fund, The Survivors Trust has been awarded funding in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to work with employers to raise awareness of domestic abuse, train their employees on how to identify, better understand and respond to domestic abuse disclosures in the workplace.
Our national communications campaign ‘Enough’ was launched in 2022, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society. Campaign advertising has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales, and thousands of clicks on the website through to organisations that support victims of these crimes.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his department is taking to promote programmes that engage directly with men and boys to prevent violence against women and girls.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Department works closely with and promotes organisations that seek to improve the employer's response to domestic abuse, including with the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant (EDAC).
In addition, through the Employers Engagement Fund, The Survivors Trust has been awarded funding in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to work with employers to raise awareness of domestic abuse, train their employees on how to identify, better understand and respond to domestic abuse disclosures in the workplace.
Our national communications campaign ‘Enough’ was launched in 2022, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society. Campaign advertising has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales, and thousands of clicks on the website through to organisations that support victims of these crimes.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to implement Articles 12.1 and 12.4 of the Istanbul Convention.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Department works closely with and promotes organisations that seek to improve the employer's response to domestic abuse, including with the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant (EDAC).
In addition, through the Employers Engagement Fund, The Survivors Trust has been awarded funding in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to work with employers to raise awareness of domestic abuse, train their employees on how to identify, better understand and respond to domestic abuse disclosures in the workplace.
Our national communications campaign ‘Enough’ was launched in 2022, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society. Campaign advertising has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales, and thousands of clicks on the website through to organisations that support victims of these crimes.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to stop dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and to ensure criminal gangs can no longer assist illegal immigration into the UK, and when they expect such crossings to end.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government continues to work closely with domestic and international partners to reduce the incidence of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings, and to prosecute those who profit from them.
Crossing attempts have decreased by a third this year, and large numbers of suspected facilitators have been arrested. Violence is now being increasingly employed by migrants and facilitators when crossing attempts are disrupted by French law enforcement, suggesting that these efforts are having an impact on criminals.
The Illegal Migration Act, enacted in July this year, marks a vital step forward in ending these crossings by removing the incentives for using these dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary routes.
A timescale for the ending of these crossings cannot currently be given, but in 2023 for the first time we have seen a reduction in arrivals.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 70 on Defence: Recruitment, how many people have been disciplined for (a) a relationship between instructors and trainees, (b) sexual offences and (c) unacceptable sexual behaviour since the introduction of the new Armed Forces policies in 2022.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence has made it clear there is zero tolerance to any form of unacceptable sexual behaviour, and this includes sexual offences. Under the Ministry of Defence’s Zero Tolerance Part One (Sexual Offences and Instructor/Trainee Relationships) policy, for all Service People who are convicted of a sexual offence, or who are placed on the Sex Offenders Register there is a mandatory presumption of discharge from the Armed Forces. Similarly, for Zero Tolerance Part Two (Unacceptable Sexual Behaviour – A Victim/Survivor Focused Approach), there is a presumption of discharge for those found in breach of this policy.
The Defence Serious Crime Unit, formed in December 2022, has the jurisdiction to investigate the most serious and complex crimes alleged to have been committed by persons subject to service law in both the UK and overseas, including sexual offences, domestic abuse and offences of violence.
Up to 30 September 2023;
a) two instructors have been found to have engaged in sexual relationships with trainees. Both have been discharged.
b) two Service personnel have been administratively discharged under the ‘zero tolerance to sexual offending’ policy following their conviction for a sexual offence. This is in addition to 14 who have been dismissed by the Court Martial following conviction for sexual offences.
c) 14 Service personnel have been discharged for unacceptable sexual behaviour under the ‘zero tolerance to unacceptable sexual behaviour’ policy.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase conviction rates for rape.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government does not seek to influence the outcome of trial processes, which are underpinned by judicial independence and the right to a fair trial. Instead, through our Rape Review Action Plan, we are delivering a programme of work to significantly increase the number of adult rape cases reaching court.
We have already exceeded each of our ambitions to return the number of adult rape cases referred by the police, charged by the CPS and reaching court to 2016 levels ahead of schedule, with the number of adult rape cases reaching court now 13% higher than in 2016. In addition, the latest data shows that prosecutions and convictions for adult rape have increased on the previous year, with prosecutions volumes now higher than they were in 2010, when we came into Government.
But we are determined to go further. We continue to deliver a range of actions that will allow us to go further in increasing the number of adult rape cases reaching court. This includes:
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle domestic violence.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and tackling it remains a top priority for this Government.
We remain committed to delivering our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and complimentary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. We have doubled funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline and added violence against women and girls - including domestic abuse - to the revised Strategic Policing Requirement elevating it to a national threat for police forces to respond to accordingly.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to tackle (a) rape, (b) sexual assault and (c) sexual harassment towards women training at Armed Forces colleges.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence has made it clear there is zero tolerance to any form of unacceptable sexual behaviour, and this includes sexual offences. Under the Ministry of Defence’s Zero Tolerance Part One (Sexual Offences and Instructor/Trainee Relationships) policy, for all Service People who are convicted of a sexual offence, or who are placed on the Sex Offenders Register there is a mandatory presumption of discharge from the Armed Forces. Similarly, for Zero Tolerance Part Two (Unacceptable Sexual Behaviour – A Victim/Survivor Focused Approach), there is a presumption of discharge for those found in breach of this policy.
Defence is working to ensure that victims of unacceptable sexual behaviour trust they can report such behaviour, have confidence that their complaint will be investigated in an appropriate and sensitive way, that appropriate action will be taken and that they will be supported throughout any investigation. Commanding Officers are directed to take this responsibility to victims extremely seriously and any indications that a sexual offence has taken place must be referred to the Service Police. Ignorance of the policies will not be accepted as an excuse for unacceptable behaviours and an awareness package has been rolled out across Chains of Command.
The Defence Serious Crime Unit, formed in December 2022, has the jurisdiction to investigate the most serious and complex crimes alleged to have been committed by persons subject to service law in both the UK and overseas, including sexual offences, domestic abuse and offences of violence.