APCC response to £5m increase for rape and sexual abuse victims
Response to Government announcement on £5m increase for rape and sexual abuse victims and on the appointment of Nicole Jacobs as the first Domestic Abuse Commissioner, from APCC Victims Leads, Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and Sophie Linden, London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime:
“This is positive news for victims of these heinous crimes, who, we know, often find it difficult to access the help and support that they need.
“Longer-term funding also provides organisations with stability and frees them from having to devote precious resources into making fresh funding bids each year, so they can instead dedicate their time and resources to helping and supporting rape and sexual abuse victims.
“However, while this is welcome news, it still falls short of the significant investment that is needed in victims’ services if we are to be able offer timely and appropriate support to all victims through the criminal justice system (CJS).
“Also, we must not forget that much more needs to be done to improve how the CJS deals with rape and sexual abuse. The recent significant drop in prosecutions and convictions for these crimes, show that the system overall is still failing victims. It is critical that victims are not only provided with the support they need but that they have confidence that when they report a crime, they will be supported by a robust response throughout the CJS process. Currently, on too many occasions, this simply does not happen, and we cannot allow this to continue.
“We welcome the appointment of Nicole Jacobs as the first Domestic Abuse Commissioner and look forward to working with her going forward. This does, however, underline just how critical it is that the Government re-introduces its Domestic Abuse Bill at the earliest opportunity. Until this is done the role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner will have neither statutory basis nor formal powers”.