Victims’ Right to Review Scheme

7. What steps she has taken with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that the victims’ right to review scheme is operating effectively.

The victims’ right to review scheme is a vital mechanism for ensuring that victims have the right to request a review of certain prosecutor decisions, either not to start a prosecution or to stop a prosecution. We are continuing to work with our partners, including the CPS, so that the victims’ right to review scheme operates as effectively as possible to deliver for victims the justice they rightly deserve.

In my short time in this place, I have been shocked and concerned by the rates of violence against women in my constituency of Monmouthshire. Many constituents have reached out to me for support. I am pleased that the Government are aiming to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, but can the Solicitor General tell us what proportion of violence against women cases request reviews? How are victims supported through the process, because it is incredibly difficult to maximise their ability to exercise their right to review?

We are looking at the victim’s right to review scheme closely. It is informing the subject discussions that I hope to have later today with the Director of Public Prosecutions. We are also working closely with the Victims’ Commissioner, who is raising issues around how we might reform this process. I can assure my hon. Friend that the CPS is looking at this matter closely. One thing it is introducing is that where no evidence is offered for the most serious rape and serious sexual offences, that decision is reviewed by a deputy Crown prosecutor before it is taken. That oversight is already producing results.