Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
(1) the effectiveness of Operation Soteria, and (2) last year’s
statistics on the (a) attrition rates, and (b) waiting times, in
cases of reported rape in England and Wales.
The Advocate-General for Scotland ( of Dirleton) (Con)
My Lords, there are early signs of improvement. In the pioneering
Soteria force, Avon and Somerset, the number of cases charged has
more than tripled; the number of victims who withdrew at the
police stage and post charge remains high, as does the time it
takes for cases to pass through each stage of the system. There
is further to go to improve the response to rape, but I am
pleased to report that all 43 forces are now implementing the
Soteria approach.
(Lab)
I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord the Minister, who is
of course a law officer and a criminal lawyer of some
distinction. But prosecution volumes are lower now than 10 years
ago, despite reported rapes being up by 30,000. He will know that
this is a particularly complex and sensitive offence, and it
requires resources. Is it not time to experiment with specialist
rape courts to give this grave offence the priority and the
resources it needs?
of Dirleton (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for her Question and
for giving me of her time yesterday at our informal engagement so
that she could outline the thinking behind this Question on an
exceptionally important topic. She asked about introducing
specialist courts for sexual violence; we have already completed
a national rollout of pre-recorded evidence, which spares victims
the ordeal of having to appear in a live courtroom and assists
them in giving their evidence to the best effect. We will update
the victims’ code so that CPS prosecution teams must meet with
rape victims ahead of court cases to answer their questions and
allay any concerns that they may have. In the next phase of our
specialist sexual violence support project, we will ensure that
participating Crown Courts have the option to remotely observe a
sentencing hearing by videolink, and that will be available to
any victim of crime who seeks it, subject to the agreement of the
judge.
(CB)
My Lords, there certainly are some improvements—and that is to be
commended—but they are incremental against, as the noble
Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, said, the stages of the process. It
is a particularly difficult set of crimes to investigate, often
because of the consent issue where there is an existing
relationship or, alternatively, because 70% of the victims are
vulnerable at the time of the attack; in fact, they are often
selected because of age, infirmity, alcohol or whatever. I wonder
whether it is time for the Law Commission to consider whether the
law fits the nature of the crime and whether it would allow
research with juries to understand why they do not convict in
some of these cases—something that is not allowed now. Otherwise,
I think both the investigators and the prosecutors are getting
worried about the prejudices exhibited sometimes by juries and
therefore the charges do not go forward and the whole system
stops. I just wonder whether it is time for an objective look at
the crime as well as the investigation.
of Dirleton (Con)
My Lords, I am again grateful for that contribution from the
noble Lord, who of course speaks from his professional insight
and great experience in investigating and superintending police
officers working on this. I am aware that there is objective data
about jury responses to crimes available which is the result of
meticulous study in England and Wales. I can also assure the
noble Lord and the House that we as a Government are working with
the Law Commissions in relation to that.
(Con)
My Lords, protection for victims is a key part of how we will see
improvements here, and the Government’s end-to-end rape review
action plan committed to reducing unnecessary and
disproportionate requests for personal information. Can my noble
and learned friend the Minister update me on progress in this
area?
of Dirleton (Con)
Once again, my noble friend makes an exceptionally important
point. Progress on the implementation of Operation Soteria has
touched on matters such as the essential aspect of possession and
use of a mobile phone. People nowadays are entirely dependent on
their phones in all sorts of ways. As the noble Baroness and
other noble Lords who have contributed will appreciate, mobile
phones are often pivotal in the investigation and accumulation of
sufficient evidence with which to bring a charge. We are taking
steps, and the Soteria principles set out, so that phones will be
away from people for one day at the most.
(LD)
My Lords, Operation Soteria has been widely welcomed and it is
positive to see the encouraging outcomes in the pilot areas, as
the noble and learned Lord has outlined. But we know that, to
improve rape prosecution, there needs to be meaningful action to
transform policing culture, in which institutional misogyny,
racism and other forms of discrimination are harming survivors.
What further action is being taken to tackle this corrosive
culture of abuse? Police abuse of power for sexual purposes is
now the biggest form of corruption dealt with by the police
complaints body, and we need to tackle this.
of Dirleton (Con)
The Government have established a unit in the Home Office which
will work in conjunction with police chief constables in order to
attempt to shape police responses, attitudes and—for want of a
better expression—the general culture within the police force.
Beyond that, I hope I can give the noble Baroness some assurance
that, from now, all new recruits and first responders will be
trained and acquainted with the Soteria principles.
(Lab)
A number of years ago, a very interesting initiative that was put
in train was the creation of something called SARCs—sexual
assault referral centres. Women could go to these special
centres, where they would be examined by doctors and nurses who
were specially trained, there would be people who could counsel
and it was not about policing at that stage. It allowed young
women who had been raped to have the swabs and the forensic
evidence taken and put into a place of safety and kept if there
was going to be a prosecution. But the women were not forced
initially to make a decision—
A noble Lord
Question!
(Lab)
The question is, and it is an important one: what has happened to
those SARCs? How many are there in the country? They seem to have
disappeared off the radar, and young women do not even know that
they exist.
of Dirleton (Con)
My Lords, I do not have to hand the information that the noble
Baroness seeks, but I undertake to write to her. I am aware of
the existence of SARCs. They came in and were located within
hospitals so that people did not face the daunting prospect of
immediate engagement with the criminal justice system but were
brought in gradually. I share the noble Baroness’s concern about
this matter and, with her leave, will write to her.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister will understand that my experience in
relation to prosecuting and defending rape is, to put it mildly,
dated. He will, of course, be aware of the proposals now being
made north of the border. To what extent are these being taken
into account in the other jurisdiction in which he has
responsibility?
of Dirleton (Con)
My Lords, I am happy to say that my professional arc and that of
the noble Lord have coincided, so he and I share experiences in
this field. The point the noble Lord makes is—as the noble Lord
is—an evergreen one. Certain essentials in relation to these
matters exist and will always exist. On the specific matter the
noble Lord raises, in my ministerial post I am very conscious of
developments in Scotland and assure the noble Lord that, together
with the England and Wales law officers—with whom I am in regular
contact: we have a meeting once a week—we share with one another
data and experiences and the work that we carry out in the field
in order best to improve practices in all jurisdictions.
(Lab)
My Lords, of course, we all welcome any reversal of the
catastrophic collapse of rape prosecutions since 2017. However,
conviction rates seem to be flatlining. I know that the press
release from the MoJ says that more rapists were put behind bars,
but if you dig into those figures, that 3% increase meant 12
convictions—I think that is fewer than any year from 2010 to
2018. Will the noble and learned Lord the Minister tell the House
when the backlog which leads to two-year waits—which are so
corrosive with rape issues and the lack of making progress on
rape—is going to be reduced and how?
of Dirleton (Con)
My Lords, the Operation Soteria principles in relation to this
field are directed to improving every aspect of rape prosecution
and the management of people complaining of those serious crimes.
I can give the noble Baroness some assurance, but she will
appreciate that the data that I give is, in essence, at an early
stage, because the reforms that Soteria introduced will take time
to bear fruit—she is good enough to nod in assent that she
appreciates the difficulties. The outcomes have varied between
the participating forces thus far. The joint council between the
Home Office and police officers that I mentioned earlier will
examine quite why that should be. We have seen encouraging
results in Avon and Somerset, in Durham and in the West Midlands.
In the last example, the number of cases referred has doubled—I
appreciate that that is not the matter with which the noble
Baroness is specifically concerned, but referrals have risen by
108%. In that area, I think that the House can take some comfort
and think that Soteria’s workings-out are bearing fruit in
policing practice.
