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School Counselling Services
7. Sue Doughty (Guildford): What measures are in place to improve counselling services available to young people in schools. [50352]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Ivan Lewis): For older pupils, the Connexions service will, by 2003, be available across the whole of England. We have also established a network of 3,000 learning mentors to help children and young people in challenging circumstances overcome any problem that affects their learning.
Sue Doughty: I thank the Minister for his reply. I had the privilege last week of addressing a social inclusion conference for youth in my constituency. It was clear that giving as much help as we can to young people, their teachers and their families will provide a real benefit in avoiding problems that may stack up later on. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is responsible for much of the current provision. Will the Minister do everything that he can to ensure that every child in every school has access to the counselling services that will help them, their teachers and families?
Mr. Lewis: I agree entirely with the hon. Lady. In my view, tackling emotional and psychological difficulties is integral to raising educational standards and performance. I pay tribute to the work of the NSPCC, which is doing some tremendously innovative work in this area. I recently met pupils and staff of the Aldersley high school and the Kings secondary school in Wolverhampton, which are benefiting directly from those NSPCC projects.
As the hon. Lady will know, there are now learning mentors in schools and we have 2,000 Connexions personal advisers in post. In the Budget we announced the establishment of new multidisciplinary support teams to work with clusters of primary and secondary schools. That is all to ensure that individual young people have intensive support where they have multiple and complex difficulties that get in the way of their learning and succeeding at school. The reasons why young people do not do as well as they could are sometimes very complex, and we need that intensive adult support to ensure that all young people fulfil their potential.
Mr. Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton, North-East): Despite the appalling spelling of "Connexions", I pay tribute to its work and that of the NSPCC, particularly in Wolverhampton. It has a long record of connecting with local authorities, especially my own, which has worked long and hard with a series of joint arrangements and often joint purse arrangements. Will the Minister ensure that he facilitates such working by making sure that all
local authorities have sufficient resources outside the ring-fenced arrangements to develop imaginative and innovative partnerships with the NSPCC and others?
Mr. Lewis: I agree with my hon. Friend, who always points out that more innovation takes place in Wolverhampton than anywhere else—with the exception of football recently. The challenge for us all is to combine the professional contribution of counsellors, Connexions advisers and learning mentors to ensure that together they add value to the contribution made by teachers to ensure that every child has the chance to pursue their dreams and fulfil their potential.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
The Solicitor-General was asked—
Rape Prosecutions
34. Vera Baird (Redcar): What steps the Government are taking to implement the recommendations of the report by the inspectorate of constabulary and the inspectorate for the Crown Prosecution Service published on 8 April. [50380]
The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): My hon. and learned Friend refers to the CPS and police inspectorates' report on the investigation and prosecution of rape. I wholly agree with her concern that we must ensure that women can have confidence that the criminal justice system will take rape allegations seriously and prosecute them effectively, and that offenders and potential offenders must know that they cannot get away with it. The CPS will take action on the report's recommendations, including extending the areas of good practice commended in the report; establishing a national network of specialist rape prosecutors, based in each of the 42 CPS areas; and reviewing the CPS guidance for prosecuting rape. My hon. and learned Friend will know that the offence is difficult to prosecute, but we must do better and I am sure that we can.
Vera Baird: I am very grateful indeed for that reply and for the indications that my right hon. and learned Friend well understands the difficulties involved in such prosecutions. Given that at each stage the decision as to whether to further a rape prosecution is inevitably influenced by the possible outcome at trial, and granted that, even in cases that get to trial, there is an extremely low conviction rate, will my right hon. and learned Friend use her best endeavours in every step that she takes to involve the judiciary, whose attitude to rape complainants needs urgent updating?
The Solicitor-General: My hon. and learned Friend raises a point about the attitude of the judiciary. I have two things to say about that. First, the Lord Chancellor is well aware of the important role of the Judicial Studies Board in that regard, and of the need constantly to update the work of involving judges in discussion of this important matter.
Secondly, it is important, as I am sure my hon. and learned Friend will agree, that we have more women judges. We need to train all judges, but it is unlikely that women victims alleging rape will have confidence in a criminal justice system in which nearly all the barristers and nearly all the judges in the higher courts are men. We need action on that, too.
Mr. John Burnett (Torridge and West Devon): I pay tribute to the report and to the work of Her Majesty's inspectorates of both the Crown Prosecution Service and the constabulary. I note that the Solicitor-General says that she will act on the report. She will need the assistance of other Departments of State to do so and I hope that she will give us an assurance about that.
Will the right hon. and learned Lady confirm that the Government do not intend to introduce different rules governing disclosure of defendants' previous convictions in sexual offence cases from those that govern other cases?
The Solicitor-General: I thank the hon. Gentleman for paying tribute to the CPS and police inspectorates which worked jointly on the report. I join him in congratulating them on their work.
In respect of the involvement of other Departments, the hon. Gentleman is right. The whole criminal justice system—police, prosecutors and courts—needs to work together to ensure that those criminal offences are properly dealt with. At the suggestion of the Attorney-General, the Home Office, the Lord Chancellor's Department and our own Department will work together on those issues and will issue a full report in July as to how we can take them forward across the criminal justice system.
The hon. Gentleman asked about disclosure of previous convictions. He will know that the Law Commission drew up a well-considered report on disclosure of previous misconduct; that includes looking at all the evidence of the effect of disclosure of previous criminal convictions in sex cases. He will also know that that was considered by Lord Justice Auld in his report on the criminal justice system. The question of the admissibility of evidence will be covered in the response to the Auld report in our White Paper, so I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's question as to whether the Government's response will be to treat admissibility as different in sexual offence cases. He will of course be aware that separate rules govern admissibility in respect of section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, which is also an issue.
Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North): I am very pleased to hear that the Government will act on the recommendations of the report.
In a recent survey undertaken by the women's safety unit in Cardiff, which works with the victims of domestic violence, 30 per cent. of women disclosed forced sexual activity that they had never reported, mainly because of the belief that rape in marriage does not exist. What does my right hon. and learned Friend think can be done to make women more aware of their rights in that situation?
The Solicitor-General: One of the important things that we can do is to back up the efforts of organisations such as that led by my hon. Friend in Cardiff. That will involve police, prosecutors and the voluntary sector
working together to ensure that women who have been subjected to rape by strangers or within marriage know that the criminal justice system will support them and will work with the voluntary sector. My hon. Friend is right to say that there is often a link between under-reporting and the fact that women think that the man will get away with it because the criminal justice system will not take their complaint seriously. Sadly, there is clear evidence that that is so. We have to build up that confidence at all levels.
Mr. William Cash (Stone): Will the Solicitor-General be good enough to tell me exactly how the 18 recommendations in the report will be implemented, and whether we will be given a full report? The recommendations are clearly set out, but the mechanics of achieving them will require a lot of administrative work.
In the light of this highly critical report, will the Solicitor-General tell me how we can give rape victims the confidence to approach the police? The report says:
- "The training available to police personnel does not conform to a common minimum standard."
- "late decision-making—
- "which, in some instances, led to cases proceeding to the Crown Court on the wrong charges."
The Crown Prosecution Service is working on the issues that relate directly to it, and it will continue to do so. I undertake to keep the hon. Gentleman and the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr. Burnett) informed at all stages. We have to build confidence and to do better than we are doing at the moment.
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