Sexual Offences
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidelines the police have for handling sexual offence cases.
Answered by Natalie Fleet
We are funding the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Public Protection to improve the national police response to VAWG. Their work includes supporting forces to implement Operation Soteria, which consists of guidance and tools developed by academics to support officers to better support victims of rape and sexual offences and ensure investigations centre on the suspect.
In addition, every police force in England and Wales will have a specialist rape and sexual offence team by 2029. The Home Secretary provided guidance to policing to assist forces to deliver these teams in December 2025.
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