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1550769

	registered interest
	date	14/12/2022
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking to protect the privacy rights of victims of sexual offence cases in a court of law by ensuring the non-disclosure of their counselling records.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	108334
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2022 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The recent review of Disclosure found that too much third-party material, including victims counselling and therapy notes, were being accessed. The revised Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022 addressed this and introduced increased privacy protections for victims. Prior written reasons must be recorded before accessing this material, and access can only occur where it is necessary and proportionate. Pre-trial therapy notes will now only be accessed in the rare circumstances that they are absolutely necessary to a reasonable line of inquiry. This ensures significant protections for victims while maintaining a fair trial.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Mid Dorset and North Poole answering member printed Michael Tomlinson question first answered 19/12/2022 10:01:06 answering member 4497 label Biography information for Michael Tomlinson
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1550772

	registered interest
	date	12/12/2022
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, with reference to her Department's policy on allowing the police and Crown Prosecution Service to scrutinise counselling records of victims of sexual violence, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a (a) presumption of non-disclosure and (b) requirement that requests for notes could only be made once a suspect had been arrested and charged.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	108336
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2022 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The requirement to disclose material which might reasonably be considered capable of undermining the case for the prosecution against the accused or of assisting the case for the accused is set by legislation, and not by the Disclosure Guidelines. The revised Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022 introduced increased privacy protections for victims in respect of their counselling notes being accessed during the course of a criminal investigation. Prior written reasons must be recorded before accessing counselling notes of victims, and access can only occur where it is necessary and proportionate. The Home Office has also recently concluded a consultation on police requests for personal records (‘third party material’). The response to this consultation and next steps will be published shortly.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Mid Dorset and North Poole answering member printed Michael Tomlinson question first answered 19/12/2022 10:19:30 answering member 4497 label Biography information for Michael Tomlinson
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1580342

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2023
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 108334, on Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information, and with reference to the revision of the Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022, whether her Department will monitor the potential impact on victims of the changes to those guidelines.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	131340
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2023 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The revised Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines published in May 2022 introduced increased privacy protections for victims in respect of their counselling notes being accessed during the course of a criminal investigation. Prior written reasons must be recorded before accessing counselling notes of victims, and access can only occur where it is necessary and proportionate. The Attorney General’s Disclosure Guidelines are kept under constant review to ensure they are operating as intended. My officials and I engage with victims’ representatives, as did my predecessor and extensively so during the recent review. I will continue to monitor the effective operation of Disclosure to ensure my guidelines support victims by ensuring the recently introduced robust tests to accessing sensitive material are applied by investigators and prosecutors.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Mid Dorset and North Poole answering member printed Michael Tomlinson question first answered 01/02/2023 15:39:18 answering member 4497 label Biography information for Michael Tomlinson
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1129073

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, whether the Sub-Group to the Criminal Justice Board and Review of the Criminal Justice Response to Rape and Serious Sexual Offences plans to make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness and (b) effect on survivors of rape of the legal guidance issued by the CPS on rape and sexual offence in relation to disclosure of medical records and counselling notes.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	259168
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Crown Prosecution Service is working with the police, government departments and third sector stakeholders on the Government’s review into how the criminal justice system responds to rape and serious sexual offences. The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to working with all involved in the Review, including stakeholders, to identify and address any issues that are identified.</p><p>Complainants are entitled to protection from unnecessary and unjustified invasion of their private lives. CPS guidance is clear that where it is a reasonable line of enquiry in the investigation, the police should obtain complainants’ informed consent to gain access to medical records and counselling notes. Prosecutors will robustly apply the relevant statutory provisions when deciding whether such material should be disclosed to the defence.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 12/06/2019 15:12:37 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1331017

	registered interest
	date	08/06/2021
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the anonymity of victims of sexual assault.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
	uin	HL886
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2021 answer text <p>Complainants in rape and sexual offence cases are protected by automatic reporting restrictions, which impose a lifetime ban on publishing any matter likely to identify a victim, from the moment the offence is reported. Anyone who publishes such material is liable to a fine.</p><p>Interfering with the administration of justice and publicly commenting on a court case on social media or other channels may lead to a charge for the more serious offence of contempt of court, for which the maximum penalty is 2 years’ imprisonment.</p> answering member printed Lord Wolfson of Tredegar question first answered 22/06/2021 16:55:24 answering member 4901 label Biography information for Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
	tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1313859

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2021
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he has taken in response to people naming victims of sexual assault.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	853
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2021 answer text <p>Complainants in rape and sexual offence cases are protected by Automatic Reporting Restrictions.</p><p>There is a lifetime ban on reporting any matter likely to identify a victim, from the moment the offence is reported.</p><p>Anyone committing such an offence is liable to a fine. Interfering with the administration of justice and publicly commenting on a court case on social media or other channels may lead to a charge for the more serious offence of contempt of court where the maximum penalty is 2 years’ imprisonment.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 21/05/2021 10:09:46 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1549448

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2022
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the number of individuals convicted of an offence under section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 relating to the publication of information that could lead to the identification of the person against whom an offence to which the Act applies is alleged to have been committed in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Steve Reed
	uin	105390
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2022 answer text <p>The number of defendants convicted of an offence under section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, on a principal offence basis, has been provided in Table 1.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 12/12/2022 15:20:38 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar attachment 1 file name 2022-12-12 105390 Table1.xlsx title Table_105390
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed