House of Commons · Westminster Hall
04 June 2025 · 7 other contributors · 4,018 words
Opened by Warinder Juss Lab Wolverhampton West
Responding minister: Lucy Rigby
Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.
Warinder Juss raised concerns about prosecutions for violence against women and girls: west midlands in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key points
Key requests to Government
Urges for urgent reform to improve outcomes for victims seeking justice in rape cases, noting the current 158-day delay from police referral to CPS authorisation compared to 46 days for other crimes.
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.
Opened the debate
Violence against women and girls accounts for approximately 20% of all police-recorded crime in the UK, with the west midlands recording over 81,000 domestic abuse-related crimes in the year ending March 2023. In Wolverhampton West alone, violence and sexual offences have been the most reported crimes over the last three years, totalling more than double that of the next highest category.
Research from Greater Manchester shows that women and girls who have experienced abuse are likely to face multiple disadvantages, such as living in poverty or homelessness. We must better understand the needs of survivors.
In his constituency, there are high levels of deprivation and crime, especially domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. There is a lack of funding for young wannabe barristers to become criminal defence lawyers.
Supports the lead MP's initiative and highlights under-reporting issues in Northern Ireland, noting that only 21.4% of women who experienced violence reported it to the police, with over three-quarters finding the response unhelpful.
In 2021, Warwickshire police had the lowest rape conviction rate in the country with fewer than 2% of reported rapes ending with a charge. In 2025, this rose to 13.4%, compared with a national average of 7.1%. This improvement gives hope for victims.
Draws attention to the long delay between a rape case being referred by the police and authorisation by the CPS, emphasising that this affects victims' ability to receive justice in a timely manner.
Highlights the urgent need for more resources for the police due to the high rate of domestic abuse reports in the west midlands, with fewer than 3% of rape or sexual assault cases resulting in conviction.
Pilots of new domestic abuse protection orders have led to multiple convictions and perpetrators being imprisoned. Measures include extending stalking protection orders, releasing identities of online stalkers, and reviewing stalking legislation.
Government Response
Lucy RigbyThe Solicitor General
This Government were elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we have been explicit in our prioritisation of tackling this deeply harmful form of offending. The CPS has invested extensively in improving its response to VAWG through various initiatives, resulting in an increase in charges for adult rape-flagged cases from 168 in 2022-23 to 204 in 2023-24. The joint national action plan and complementary national operating models have improved outcomes for victims of rape, leading to a 7% increase in the volume of domestic abuse-flagged prosecutions and a 12% increase in convictions from quarter 2 to quarter 3 2024-25. A pilot is under way across three CPS areas to improve timeliness of investigations and charging decisions in domestic abuse cases. The CPS has also held a multi-agency conference in Birmingham to combat honour-based abuse, and the forthcoming VAWG strategy will set out the blueprint for halving VAWG from 2025 through to 2030.