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11 May 2021 12:00 ~ Call for evidence – Violence against women and girls – Home Affairs Committee – Closing Date

Background

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) takes many forms and affects women and girls in many different ways. Recent cases and the outpouring of stories shared by women and girls across the country have brought into sharp focus the endemic problems. The facts speak for themselves:

  • Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales.
  • Up to 700,000 women are stalked each year, while it is estimated that one in five women will experience stalking in their adult life.
  • Between April 2020 and February 2021, there was an increase of 61% in calls and contacts logged on Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline. 72% of those supported by the helpline were women experiencing abuse.
  • In the year ending September 2020 there was a 10% increase in the total number of domestic abuse-related offences recorded by the police (842,813 offences) compared with the previous year.
  • It is estimated that approximately 60,000 girls, born in England and Wales and aged 0 to 14, have mothers who had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). Approximately 10,000 girls aged under 15 who have migrated to England and Wales are likely to have undergone FGM.
  • In 2019, at least 1,080 women and girls were victims of a forced marriage.

The United Nations defines violence against women as: any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. This inquiry will look at what action is being taken to end the scourge of violence against women and girls, and how violence against women and girls is currently being addressed by Government, the police and the wider criminal justice system.  The Committee expects to focus on a series of different issues as part of this overarching inquiry, starting with the investigation and prosecution of rape, for which additional terms of reference are being issued. It will use information from this overarching call for evidence on violence against women and girls to inform its detailed future programme of work.

Initial terms of reference

The Committee invites evidence on the following points, to inform development of its future programme:

  • How VAWG affects women and girls. This may include:
    • Information on different forms and experiences of VAWG – for example rape, sexual harassment and abuse, domestic abuse, coercive control, street and online harassment, stalking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and other forms of violence and abuse – and the differences between addressing VAWG in the public and private spheres;
    • How VAWG has changed and how issues relating to VAWG are affected by modern technology, for example the use of social media and online dating sites, sexting, revenge porn and the accessibility of explicit pornography;
    • How VAWG affects young women and girls including in school and education institutions, in public places and online;
    • How VAWG affects particular groups, such as migrant women, sex workers or women with protected characteristics;
    • The prevalence and effect of honour-based violence and other practices that may affect minority groups such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage;
    • How sexual violence is being normalised within relationships, including strangulation, and the influence of extreme or violent pornography;
    • How organisations that women and girls turn to for support and help engage with issues relating to VAWG and their role in tackling and preventing it.
  • How VAWG should be prevented and addressed. This may include:
    • The role information and education for both men and women play in protecting women and girls;
    • Whether there is sufficient and appropriate support available for victims;
    • What measures should be in place for perpetrators;
    • The role of organisations and institutions including the police and criminal justice system, schools, colleges and education institutions, employers and trade unions, social media companies, local community and specialist services;
    • What lessons should be learnt from the 2016-2020 Ending Violence against Women and Girls strategy when developing the Government’s 2021-2024 strategy;
    • How current Bills, such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and the Domestic Abuse Bill and other recent legislation that has been introduced can address, or have addressed, the issue of VAWG; and
    • Steps towards ratification of the Istanbul Convention.

The Committee has also published separate terms of reference relating specifically to the investigation and prosecution of rape. If you wish to submit evidence on this issue, please click here.

Submissions should be received by 12 noon on Tuesday 11 May 2021.

For full details and link to online submission form go to https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/463/violence-against-women-and-girls/

April 30, 2021

11 May 2021 ~ Inquiry into rape investigations: submit your views – Home Affairs Committee – Closing Date

Content Warning: The following questions will ask you about going through the criminal justice system following experiences of sexual violence.

MPs on the Home Affairs Committee are concerned about recent figures showing that just 1.4% of rapes recorded by the police resulted in a suspect being charged or receiving a summons. We are keen to understand from victims and survivors of rape and serious sexual assault what changes they think could help improve the experience of reporting what has happened to the police and going to court to get justice. We will use the information provided by you to better inform the recommendations we make to the Government.

These questions are for adults aged 18 and over who have experienced rape and/or serious sexual assault, particularly in the last five years (given the recent fall in the number of reported rapes making it to court), and who would like to share their views.

Not every question may be relevant to you, please only answer those that feel relevant. The questions may take you a while to complete. This form has to be completed all in one go; we understand that might be difficult, so please consider saving your answers elsewhere and then pasting them in at a later date if you wish to take more time with the questions.

If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments to help you to input into the Committee’s work on this issue, please contact homeaffcom@parliament.uk.

We will analyse your answers to the questions and then create a summary of everybody’s responses to be published as part of our work, including quotes. All responses will be anonymised. The Committee might also use your responses to these questions when we’re asking questions in a public Committee meeting or in the House of Commons.

Please don’t share any personal information that people might connect to you, and please consider whether the content, language, or style might identify you.

You can find out about our investigation on this issue here: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/

If you have any questions, please contact homeaffcom@parliament.uk.

We wanted to share some further points to consider

  • The Home Affairs Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament. parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/
  • If your evidence raises any safeguarding concerns about you, or other people, then the Committee has a duty to raise these with the appropriate safeguarding authority. If you have immediate safeguarding concerns, you should contact the Police on 999.
  • We can’t publish anything that mentions ongoing legal cases – contact us if you are not sure what this means for you.

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences and views with the Committee.

Submit your views online at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=nt3mHDeziEC-Xo277ASzSjmyhv4Lz8tPuToBKZcY2O9UNDBLQzVCRVZJVUY0MkJVQk4wNzlTV05KUS4u

Responses to these questions should be received by 11 May 2021.

April 30, 2021

7 June 2021 12:00 ~ Call for evidence – Investigation and prosecution of rape – Home Affairs Committee – Closing date

Background

As part of the Committee’s overarching work into violence against women and girls, the Committee wishes to explore the key question of why rape prosecutions are falling.

Reports of rape and sexual offences are increasing, while the number of prosecutions and convictions are decreasing.

Since 2014, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decisions to prosecute have fallen by 51% – almost double the rate of the drop in police referrals to the CPS which are down by 27%.

CPS data published in January 2021 shows that there were 524 prosecutions from April to September 2020. There were 397 convictions resulting from those 524 prosecutions.

In 2019-20, police recorded 55,130 rapes, while the most recent CPS data shows that there were 2,102 prosecutions and 1,439 convictions for rape in England and Wales in 2019-20. The BBC has reported that, in the year to March 2020, just 1.4% of rape cases recorded by police resulted in a suspect being charged (or receiving a summons).

The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird has warned that rape is being decriminalised. The Director of Public Prosecutions has also suggested that there should be a ‘frank and full conversation’ about the fall in the number of rape prosecutions and convictions.

Terms of reference

The Committee invites evidence on the following points:

  • Whether victims have access to justice, whether witnesses are sufficiently supported, and whether there are sufficient safeguards for those who are accused of rape and sexual offences to ensure that they receive a fair trial;
  • The role of the police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the courts in reporting, prosecuting and convicting in cases of rape and sexual assault, including the advice and guidance that is used to train, educate and support those involved in the disclosure, charging and prosecution of rape;
  • What the barriers are to reporting, charging, prosecuting and convicting rape and sexual assaults;
  • Challenges around disclosure and whether the current disclosure arrangements affect the reporting, investigation, prosecution and sentencing of rape cases;
  • The success of organisational strategies and plans, for example the Joint National Disclosure Improvement Plan and the CPS’ RASSO 2025 strategy.

The Committee is keen to understand from victims and survivors of rape and serious sexual assault what changes they think could help improve the experience of reporting what has happened to the police and going to court to get justice.

If you would like to submit your lived experience to the Committee, you can find questions about going through the criminal justice system following experiences of sexual violence here. You can also share why you might have chosen not to go through the criminal justice system. Responses to these questions should be received by 11 May 2021.

If you have any questions, please contact homeaffcom@parliament.uk

Submissions on the terms of reference set out above should be received by 12 noon on Monday 7 June 2021.

For full details on the submission process and to complete a submission online go to

https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/464/investigation-and-prosecution-of-rape/

April 30, 2021

The government has met less than half of Female Offender Strategy commitments almost three years on – Prison Reform Trust

An analysis of the government’s Female Offender Strategy published today by the Prison Reform Trust shows the government has fully implemented only 31 of 65 commitments. The majority of the promises made in the strategy remain unachieved or partially achieved nearly three years after the strategy was published in June 2018.

The recent announcement of 500 new prison places in the women’s estate reverses a key aim of the strategy to reduce the women’s prison population. New places would not be needed if the strategy had been implemented successfully.

One consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a significant decrease in the women’s prison population. This is largely a result of a decline in the number of criminal trials owing to public health restrictions. However, as lockdown eases, and if nothing is done to prevent it, this trend is expected to reverse. The latest prison population projections published by the Ministry of Justice show that the number of women in prison in England and Wales is predicted to rise from just over 3,000 today to 4,500 by September 2026.

The government has not made available a detailed document tracking the implementation of commitments in the Female Offenders Strategy, most of which are vaguely worded and unclear. An ‘implementation matrix’ compiled by PRT, based on the most up to date information available, shows that of 65 commitments in the strategy, 31 have been fully achieved, 20 partially achieved, and there has been no progress or measurable implementation of 14.

The strategy was published on 27 June 2018. Its three priorities are: 1) earlier intervention; 2) an emphasis on community-based solutions; and 3) an aim to make custody as effective and decent as possible for those women who do have to be there. Its explicit objective to ‘reduce female prison places’ was widely endorsed by the criminal justice sector at the time. However, concerns were raised by stakeholders over the lack of resources to deliver change, and the absence of a timetable to drive it.

One welcome development linked to the strategy has been the introduction of a protocol to increase the use of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) in England, as an effective alternative to custody which better deals with the multiple and complex issues around women’s offending.

However, PRT’s analysis of the implementation of the strategy reveals:

  1. Even where commitments have been met through publication of guidance or instructions there is little or no information on whether it is having the desired impact. The strategy is not backed up by clear and comprehensive measures of success.
  2. Little progress in implementing promises in the strategy to address the particular challenges faced by black and minority ethnic women. The Ministerial Advisory Board on Female Offenders has no representatives from organisation advocating for black and minority ethnic women. User centred research has now been completed, but findings must be swiftly translated into action.
  3. More attention should be given to developing a safe, trauma informed environment for women in prison. Self-harm levels are worryingly high and continue to rise. Peer led ‘healing trauma’ training has been suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic but should be prioritised when regimes allow, ensuring delivery in all women’s prisons.
  4. Continued attention must also be given to the cross-departmental ‘Concordat on women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System’. The document was published earlier this year, more than two years after it was originally promised in the strategy and alongside the contradictory announcement of new women’s prisons places. No funding was attached to the implementation of cross departmental working to establish more Whole System Approaches, and the document commits only to a ‘one-year on’ review.

Click here to download a copy of the analysis.

Part of a longer press release at http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/PressPolicy/News/vw/1/ItemID/1011

 

April 30, 2021

Bar Council comments on Domestic Abuse Bill receiving Royal Assent

As the Domestic Abuse Bill today received Royal Assent, Chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC said:

“While the measures contained within the Domestic Abuse Bill are much-needed, it is disappointing that the Government has ignored our call to make non-means tested legal aid available in all domestic abuse cases.

With a huge increase in incidents of domestic abuse during the pandemic – many of which will end up in the courts – legal representation ought to be a given for these difficult and traumatic cases.

We will continue to seek appropriate legal help for all affected by domestic abuse.”

https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/bar-council-comments-on-domestic-abuse-bill-receiving-royal-assent.html

April 30, 2021