To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 18 March 2003,Official Report, column 668W, on sexual assault, if he will issue accident and emergency departments with guidelines on the referral of sexual assault victims.[107735]

The Home Office held a seminar on 4 April, at which the Department of Health was represented, to consider the structure and nature of services that currently exist for victims of sexual assault. We will consider with the Home Office how to take these complex issues forward, including whether guidance to the national health service on the management of victims of sexual assault is necessary.