Secretary of State for Justice (): My Rt Hon. Friend Home
Secretary () and I have published on 14
February 2024 a Progress Report on the
End-to-End Rape Review Action Plan(opens in a new tab)
(published June 2021). This is the fifth progress report on
implementation and demonstrates the Government’s ongoing
commitment to transparency on our progress delivering the
ambitions of the Rape Review.
The Report details the improvements we made over the last six
months, including:
- Implemented the national rollout of Operation Soteria across
all 43 forces in England and Wales, the highly effective police
investigation model pioneered by the Avon and Somerset Police
where investigations focus on the behaviour of the alleged
perpetrator, not the victim.
- Supported police and prosecutors as they implement this new
approach, including by establishing a Joint Home Office, College
of Policing and National Police Chief's Council Soteria Unit.
- Ensured that police officers have the right skills and
knowledge to respond effectively to these offences, we have
commenced specialist training for 2,000 investigators in rape and
serious sexual offences, and are on track to complete these by
April 2024 with appropriate specialism in all 43 forces.
- Introducing legislation to strengthen support for victims and
build victim trust in the system, including ensuring police
requests for third party material are necessary and proportionate
and introducing statutory guidance to embed vital roles like
Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence Advisors (ISVAs
and IDVAs) through our Victims and Prisoners Bill.
- Further improving the victim experience at the Crown Court
through our Specialist Sexual Violence Support project,
introducing additional measures to make sure that victims feel
informed, comfortable and are treated sensitively, through best
practice in communication, trauma informed training for court
staff and additional facilities.
- Introducing the Sentencing Bill, which will ensure that
convicted rapists spend the entirety of their custodial sentence
in jail, with no possibility of early release. This builds on the
Conservative Government’s strong track record of tough sentencing
for rape. We previously raised the release point to 2/3 of the
custodial term after the previous Labour government lowered it to
the halfway point in 2003.
We are now exceeding all three of our initial ambitions to return
volumes of cases being referred to the police, charged by the CPS
and received in court, to at least 2016 levels by the end of this
parliament. In practice, this means we have more than doubled the
numbers of these metrics from the levels at which they stood when
the End-to-End Rape Review was commissioned in 2019. The volumes
of adult rape cases reaching court have continued to increase
quarter on quarter, with the latest data (July– September 2023)
showing that:
- Adult rape cases referred by the police to the CPS (for
either early advice or a charging decision) continue to increase.
There were 1,470 police referrals in this period which
exceeds our ambition of 766 by 91% and up by 219% from
the quarterly average in 2019, when the Rape Review was
commissioned.
- Adult rape cases charged by the CPS stands at 668
exceeding our ambition of 538 by 24% and up by 174% from
the quarterly average in 2019.
- The number of adult rape Crown Court receipts has increased
to 665, exceeding our ambition of 553 by 20% and
up by 188% from the quarterly average in 2019.
- The number of people prosecuted for an adult rape offence
went up by 54% in the latest year of data (12 months to June),
rising from 1,410 to 2,165. This is more than double the number
recorded in 2019. Adult rape prosecutions are also up by 32%
compared to 2010 (2,165 prosecutions in year ending June 2023
compared to 1,644 in 2010).
While strong progress has been made, we made clear in our last
Progress Report that we recognise that this is only a start and
there is much more to do. This is why we extended our action plan
until December 2024.
Beyond our Action Plan we are committed to addressing the
remaining challenges, particularly in regard to victim attrition
and court timeliness. We need to ensure that victims remain
engaged in the process and feel confident that they will be
supported at every stage.
To assist us in in driving improvements in the criminal justice
system, we have recruited a new Independent Advisor to the Rape
Review, Professor Katrin Hohl. Professor Hohl is an
internationally recognised academic specialising in serious
sexual offences and domestic abuse. She was the joint academic
lead behind Operation Soteria and her work with victims and
frontline services will be invaluable in unlocking the most
challenging issues that remain.
The action set out in this publication forms part of the
Government’s ambition to improve the experience and ensure
justice for victims.
