To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for the variations in rape conviction rates across areas of England and Wales; and what progress has been made by the Rape Performance Group in analysing this issue. (225143)

The Home Office published research in July 2007 (Feist et al, Investigating and Detecting Recorded Offences of Rape) which considered the influence of different factors on levels of attrition in rape cases. The Cross CJS Rape Performance Group has been established specifically to analyse the performance of police and CPS areas in relation to the investigation and prosecution of rape against a range of indicators, and reports to Ministers through the National Criminal Justice Board.