I am planning a range of reforms that will add to the supports for rape victims, such as the establishment of remote evidence centres, advocacy and sexual offences legal advisers (SOLAs), which my Department has already introduced. Those new measures include legislation to provide for greater regulation of the use of victims' private information within the criminal justice disclosure process and to clarify when and how pre-trial third-party representation for victims of serious offences may be enabled. Those measures will support victims who wish to object to applications for the disclosure of their personal information, such as medical or counselling records, or to applications to admit evidence of their previous sexual history at trial.

Subject to funding, I hope to launch a pilot to test pre-recorded cross-examination, before the end of the mandate, and to establish SOLAs for child victims. I look forward to receiving a report on some ongoing research into attrition in serious sexual offence cases and will use the findings to develop further measures to increase victims' confidence to be able to report sexual crime and to remain in the criminal justice system until the conclusion of their cases.