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<p>The 2021 Rape Review Action Plan set public ambitions to return the volumes of
adult rape cases being referred by the police, charged by the CPS, and going to court
back to at least 2016 levels. We have exceeded each of these ambitions ahead of schedule.</p><p>
</p><p>The Rape Review intentionally focussed its efforts on the system’s response
to adult rape, acknowledging its unique and complex nature to investigate and prosecute,
as well as for the harm it causes to victims. That being said, improvements delivered
through the Action Plan will also have wider benefit for the justice system’s response
to other sexual offences.</p><p> </p><p>For example, we have recruited 20,000 extra
police officers and are providing specialist rape and serious sexual assault training
to 2,000 officers, making sure the police have the skills to investigate these crimes. We
have rolled out pre-recorded cross examination for victims of sexual and modern slavery
offences nationally, sparing victims from the glare of court and helping them give
their best evidence. We are also quadrupling victims funding by 2024/25, up from £41
million in 2009/10, enabling us to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence
and Domestic Abuse Advisors to around 1,000 by 2024/25.</p><p> </p><p>More widely,
the Government’s 2021 Tackling Violence against Women and Girls strategy set out our
plan for improving the system wide response to VAWG. We have delivered on the vast
majority of the actions set out in the original Strategy and continue to make important
strides, including the first successful prosecution for cyber flashing resulting in
a custodial sentence (March 2024); bringing into force the provisions in the Online
Safety Act (January 2024) including new intimate image abuse offences; and putting
a new duty on employers to protect their employees from sexual harassment via the
Worker Protection amendment of the Equality Act 2010.</p>
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