Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what are the most recent rape (1)
reporting, (2) prosecution, and (3) conviction, rates in England
and Wales; and how many forces have rolled out Operation
Soteria.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office () (Con)
My Lords, the most recent statistics show that 70,600 rape
incidents were recorded by the police in the year to June 2022;
there were 2,326 prosecutions for rape and 1,019 convictions.
Nineteen police forces and nine CPS areas are participating in
Operation Soteria and informing the development of new national
operating models for the investigation and prosecution of rape.
These models will be available to all forces and CPS areas from
June 2023.
(Lab)
I am grateful to the Minister for that Answer, but recent Home
Office research, including under Soteria, revealed a dismal
picture of police attitudes towards rape complainants and whether
they are at fault for the crimes committed against them. British
women are reeling from Couzens and Carrick. Is it not time that
the Government took this problem out of the long grass and
legislated for police vetting, training and disciplinary
reform?
(Con)
My Lords, I spoke from the Dispatch Box last week on the review
into dismissal processes. We talked a lot then about vetting and
the various changes that have been made to both the vetting
processes and the vetting verification processes, which are being
advanced. Operation Soteria pioneered a new model which will
effectively put the needs of victims above those of suspects. The
initial evidence is that it is working. Avon and Somerset Police
was one of the pioneering forces; it has reported an increase in
its adult rape charge rate from 3% to over 10%. I do not think
that is good news but it is progress.
(Con)
Does all this not underline the need for urgency in sorting out
the deep-seated problems which are constantly coming back from
the Metropolitan Police? My noble friend referred last week, and
has mentioned again today, to a review lasting four months, I
think it is. We need changes now. Home Office officials should
have been working towards a conclusion—a conclusion that we
should reach before the lapse of four months.
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for that. As I explained from the
Dispatch Box last week, the Home Office believes it is necessary
to obtain evidence and make sure this is an evidence-based review
in order to deliver the correct outcome for those police forces.
As regards the Met, I attended a speech given by the Met
Commissioner last week. He indicated the change in the Met’s
thinking towards serious sexual offences, saying:
“we are targeting men who prey on women and children. The figures
are far from where we would like them to be but the number of
rapists we bring to justice is increasing.”
He went on to expand on some innovative use of data and
technology which is helping him. I think the Met is making
serious progress.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister not agree with me and Professor Betsy
Stanko, who carried out a review of rape investigation in the
Metropolitan Police, that victim satisfaction is the most
important measure for judging police performance against rape? Is
it being measured?
(Con)
My Lords, I can only go back to quoting the statistics that I
just gave to the noble Lord. I have not heard of the professor
who the noble Lord refers to. As I said earlier, the pioneering
police forces in Operation Soteria are reporting an improvement
in these cases, though I think it is probably a little too early
to tell. I of course agree that the victims should be paramount
in this.
(GP)
My Lords, Operation Soteria sounds fantastic and I support all of
its aims, but the fact is that there is a long way to go, is
there not, particularly within police forces? For example, in the
year up to last April, nine in 10 formal allegations against
Greater Manchester officers resulted in no misconduct action.
That is a huge gap in culpability and responsibility. Are the
police getting more funding for this?
(Con)
My Lords, we have put a lot of funding into the police, as the
noble Baroness will know. The Ministry of Justice has allocated
significant funds towards victims’ groups, and so on and so
forth. In the year ending June 2022—and this comes off the back
of the last rape review—the police recorded an increase in rape
offences of about 20% compared to March 2020. Eighteen months
into implementing the rape review action plan, we have seen some
improvements: the number of adult rape cases referred by the
police to the CPS was up 96%; the volume of adult rape cases
charged by the CPS was up about two-thirds; and the number of
adult rape cases reaching court was up 91%. Progress is being
made—not quick enough, I agree.
(Lab)
My Lords, for the Minister’s information, Professor Betsy Stanko
wrote the Operation Soteria report. One of the things she
recommended in that report was the improvement of data quality.
It may sound mundane, but it is at the heart of improving police
force quality and the response to sex and rape allegations. One
of the central points she made was that the data was unevenly
recorded across the country. Does the Minister agree that this
should be seen as a priority to try to do better for victims, who
are not getting the justice they deserve?
(Con)
I agree with the noble Lord and thank him for the
clarification—the professor predated me, obviously. Operation
Soteria is bringing together all aspects of policing and CPS work
with regards to rape cases. It is elevating the status of the
victims above those of the suspects, which I would argue is long
overdue. As part of that, and in order to validate the work of
the operation, it is clear that data collection has to be uniform
across the country. It will be available to be rolled out in
June, as I say, across all police forces, but it is showing signs
of improvement.
(LD)
My Lords, Operation Soteria is described as having exposed the
underbelly of policing, which, as we know from the David Carrick
statement only last week, is not a pretty sight. I welcome the
Minister’s comments about the national rollout. I also endorse
what the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, said about proper
policing and vetting. In addition to that, would the Government
please consider discipline reviews, taking the legal process out
of it and restoring discipline back to police chiefs
themselves?
(Con)
As the noble Baroness will be aware, that is part of the terms of
reference of the review into dismissals that was announced last
week, as I talked about at the Dispatch Box. It will deliver its
results in four months. I have to tell the noble Baroness to wait
until then.
(Lab)
My Lords, following on from a question that several noble Lords
have asked, could the Minister give us further assurance in this
House about the importance of victims’ voices being heard, and
that they are heard to be satisfied with what is being done by
the police force investigating the crimes against them? If there
is an issue with the quality of data, can he advise the House
that, when we are looking at that, we will look at what the
victims are saying?
(Con)
Absolutely—I can give that assurance. I am also going to go on to
one of the reasons why it was a little difficult in the past to
prosecute some of these cases; it was to do with the attrition of
victims from the process. In the year ending June 2022, 62% of
adult rape offences ended up not being supported for further
police action because the victim withdrew. There were a number of
complicated reasons for that but, obviously, it is necessary to
collect the data which supports that.
(CB)
My Lords, Professor Betsy Stanko’s report on Operation Soteria,
which was published on GOV.UK last month, had two other key
findings in addition to those mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord
Ponsonby. She found that investigators and other police staff
lack sufficient specialist knowledge about rape and other sexual
offending. She also found that disproportionate effort has been
put into testing the credibility of the victim, and that there is
a need to rebalance investigations to include a more thorough
investigation of the suspect’s behaviour. Can we see action on
both of those points?
(Con)
Action is being taken on both of those things. The noble Lord is
completely right about specialist knowledge, and this finding is
now being applied in South Wales Police and the Met, two of the
pioneering forces in Operation Soteria. Structural changes have
been introduced in Durham, another of the pioneering forces. That
has improved shift patterns, supervisor ratios and so on, which
will enhance officer and organisational capability.
(Lab)
My Lords, one reason why so many victims pull out of proceedings
is the backlog in cases being heard. Could the Minister talk to
his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and point out to them
again that the danger of these backlogs and the damage they do go
right back to why the figures on rape are so poor?
(Con)
I will happily do that.
