Sexual assault referral centres (Havens) pan London coverage

Report: 19
Date: 19 June 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

Since May 1999 the South East of London has been served by a Sexual Assault referral centre (The Haven) based at King's College Hospital, Camberwell. This centre provides for the forensic examination of all rape victims within an agreed catchment area. This facility is considered to be a dramatic improvement in the systematic provision of an appropriate, professional response to complainants. The MPS proposes to develop this approach to provide the same level of response across London in order to fulfil a key part of the Policing Plan for his year (Hate Crime: Sexual Assaults).

A. Recommendation

Members are asked to approve the commitment to fund the extension of the Havens scheme across London at an estimated initial additional revenue cost of £725,000 in 2002/3 and beyond. This figure may be reduced if partnership funding can be established and developed.

B. Supporting information

Executive summary

1. The intention of this project is to create pan London coverage of Sexual Assault Referral Centres for victims of rape and serious sexual assault. The project is based upon the Haven at Camberwell, which has been evaluated by MPS Consultancy Group* and found to be highly successful. A copy of this report can be provided upon request to Members, in confidence. The MPS receives in the region of 2200 allegations of rape per year; the current throughput of the Haven is approximately 640 cases per year. To achieve pan London coverage and allow for expected growth we need to quadruple the current arrangements.

*MPS Consultancy Group Report No 00/005 refers

2. Sexual Assault Referral Centres are considered good practice by the Home Office, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary (HMIC) and the MPS Independent Advisory Group (IAG). The provision of pan London coverage will allow for further developments linked to this scheme including dedicated sexual offence investigation teams and self-referrals by victims providing great intelligence benefits.

3. It is intended to develop the learning from the Haven project to provide a common standard of care and investigation for all victims of these crimes in London. Apart from the clear benefits to victims from the use of these schemes there are major opportunity cost savings and investigation benefits for investigating officers. The fact that all facilities are guaranteed to be available at the same location within specified time periods means that investigators can concentrate on their cases rather than be distracted by problems of logistics.

Project overview

Background

4. The introduction of the Haven concept came about as a result of long standing difficulties with providing acceptable levels of victim care and forensic examination. These problems still exist in areas not served by the Haven. Over ten years ago the MPS made a significant step forward with the establishment of Victim Examination Suites (VES) for serious sexual offences. Six of these suites are still operational. A number of female doctors were recruited to form a 24-hour rota and were trained as Sexual Offence Examiners (SOEs). Police officers were trained under the Sexual Offences Investigation Training (SOIT) regime. SOIT offices have been responsible for obtaining the critical victim statements and the co-ordination of all the other services and facilities required in the initial victim care stage. This system has frequently failed and is no longer considered adequate to meet the needs of victims or the judicial process. Key problems identified are:

• slow response time by SOE's and inadequate rota coverage;
• high stress levels for SOIT officers in arranging the provision of facilities to victims;
• victim examination suites are unwelcoming, not forensically secure and not managed by dedicated staff.

5. The Haven evaluation document attached reveals that the Haven scheme answers these problems and many more besides.

Current position

6. The Haven centre is providing high levels of victim care and assistance to the investigative process. The centre has featured in a wide range of detailed media articles, including the Evening Standard, Time Out and a major article in Police Review. A Channel 4 documentary series about the work of the centre is in an advanced stage of preparation.

7. The Haven is providing coverage to the South East of London. The remainder of London is served by a range of Victim Examination suites and the SOE rota. The level of service delivery is variable. There is a great expectation within the MPS and partner agencies that the principle of dedicated Sexual Assault Referral Centres, based on the learning from the Haven project will be extended.

Statement of future plans

8. The MPS delivering consistent levels of service across London, reflecting the best practice that is available. Achieving current Policing Plan objectives of making London safer by offering improvements in victim care and investigation. Further developing and incorporating learning from the Haven scheme. The development of a comprehensive London wide network of sexual assault referral centres working in partnership with dedicated sexual offence investigation teams.

Options and costs

9. Three options were considered for the provision of services to rape victims. These were as follows:

• Option 1
  No change – Maintain existing Haven and Victim Examination Suites
• Option 2
  Havens Pan London
• Option 3
  Revert to pre-Haven situation – Victim Examination Suites across London

At the MPS Resource Allocation Committee (RAC) meeting in May 2001 it was agreed that Option 2 should be developed in more detail.

Summary of costs

10. The estimated net additional costs to the MPS of each option are summarised in the Table 1 below:

Table 1: Option analysis – additional revenue costs

11. It should be noted that because of the lead in time to develop the additional Havens (Option 2) there are unlikely to be any additional costs in 2001/2 but to develop the preferred option would require a commitment now to spend in resources in 2002/3. The process of tendering and contract letting is expected to take at least nine months.

12. In agreeing to the development of option 2 the RAC also agreed that more work should take place to explore developing the Havens in partnership with the NHS, and in particular looking at opportunities to attract both public and private sector funding to the project. The figures above do not assume any partnership funding.

A brief analysis of the costs of each option is included in the paragraphs below:

Option 1 - no Change

13. Do nothing more. Continue to use the services provided by the Haven Camberwell and the existing Victim Examination Suites (VES). The VES's will require refurbishment in 2002/3 to bring them up to an acceptable standard. In cost terms this option would only require £45k to refurbish the existing VES's, all other costs are already within MPS budgets

Option 2 - Havens Pan London – preferred option

14. Replace existing Victim Examination Suites with Havens. Based on the costs of the existing Haven and forecast figures on the level of sexual examinations required this is estimated to cost £1.1m from 2002/3 onwards. This cost can be offset by estimated revenue savings of £375k per annum on the existing cost of sexual offence examiners. This leaves net additional revenue costs of £725k per annum. This option would also produce opportunity cost savings in police manpower of approximately £320k per annum. Finally it may also allow for the realisation of a capital receipt of the sale of the existing VES at Wimbledon (estimated at £640,000)

Option 3 - Revert to pre-Haven situation, victim examination suites across London

15. Do not extend contract for Haven beyond current 2-year contract. Refurbish all Victim Examination Suites; re-commission examination suites in the south east that became redundant because of the Haven service. The only additional cost involved in this option is the refurbishment of existing VES's and the re-opening of the VES in South-east London (total cost approximately £75,000).

Rationale for selection of the preferred option

16. The extension of the Haven Scheme across London is considered the best option for the following reasons:

• it provides victims with the best level of care available to the MPS and provides this consistently across London and around the clock;
• it obtains best possible evidence within a systematic process helping to increase the conviction rate;
• it allows for flexibility of the scheme the only constraint being overall capacity and geographical spread;
• it allows quick recovery of forensic samples, vital in drugs rape cases;
• it develops expertise amongst dedicated professionals, matching victim needs

17. Having acknowledged the benefits of the extension of the Haven scheme it is recognised that this is, by far, the most expensive option in terms of additional costs. Overall it is considered that the additional services offered to vulnerable victims of crime in tandem with the operational benefits in crime detection rates, outweigh the additional costs involved.

Internal and external support

Internal

18. Option 2, pan London Haven coverage has been decided upon as the chosen route by the MPS Resource Allocation Committee. The Haven scheme is supported by those that have used it, particularly those that have had experience under both regimes. (See valuation document - Appendix 1).

19. The 2000/2001 Policing Plan commits the Service to, "improve victim care and investigation in cases of rape". The first key action towards this within the Policing Plan is to "develop further victim examination and medical care facilities based upon the learning from the Haven project".

External

20. Home Office Report "Speaking Up For Justice", Recommendation 53: "Chief Officers of Police in consultation with the NHS and relevant local voluntary organisations, should review the provision of examination facilities in their force area in respect of both female and male complainants, in relation to both the availability and standard of facilities and with a view to providing separate facilities for the examination of both suspects and victims". Recommendation 54: "Victims (both male and female) of rape or serious sexual offences should have a realistic choice of being examined by a female doctor". The Haven procedures answer both of these recommendations.

21. The Haven sexual assault referral centre is supported by the Drugs Rape Trust and the MPS Independent Advisory Group (IAG). The IAG represents many of the senior bodies in the field of sex crime, prevention, investigation and counselling.

Core service provision

22. The sexual assault referral centre undertakes to process all cases of rape and serious indecent assault within the geographic area of responsibility it contracts to. This coverage is 24 hours a day 7 days a week and the service provider undertakes to have backup systems sufficient to take responsibility for all cases regardless of quantity at any given time. This allows for the ending of both the SOE rota and the network of victim examination suites, these savings will offset the overall scheme costs.

Milestones completed to-date

• February 2000 - Haven scheme opened as a pilot
• May 2000 - Haven fully operational
• February 2001 - Haven able to provide coverage for child victims
• April 2001 - Haven evaluation produced and first approval, in principle, given by MPS Resource Allocation Committee (see Appendix 2)

Consequences of inaction

23. The Haven centre gives the MPS a world class service, much of the remainder of MPS rape systems and rotas do not. Most victims have no knowledge of what is best practice in this field and are in any event highly vulnerable. A lack of complaints should not be taken to mean that systems are performing adequately. All investigators in this field can give anecdotal accounts of victims being asked to wait for 4,5 or more hours while the logistics are managed. There are serious defects in our current systems.

24. There are numerous reasons why the MPS should pursue a leadership role. There are opportunities to improve our working with victims and partner agencies, increase intelligence flow and reduce the attrition rate. There are also serious risks we should consider. Victims have a right to a fair trial, under the Human Rights Act, if we delay their examination and therefore prevent the recovery of forensic samples, we have affected that right. We have a responsibility to play our part in reducing the attrition rate; we can not support systems which, by their design, discourage victims from working with us.

C. Financial implications

The estimated financial implications of the preferred option are £725,000 revenue per annum for 2002/3 and beyond. This may reduce significantly if partnership funding can be utilised to support the extension of the scheme.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

The author of this report is D/Supt Jim Webster, Rape Project Team.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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