Two new London rape havens receive funding priority from the MPA

106/02
25 October 2002

Two new Rape Havens for London, following the highly successful model of The Haven in Camberwell, South London, have been given the green light by the Metropolitan Police Authority’s Finance Committee after receiving support from the NHS.

The two new Sexual Assault Referral Centres (known as Havens), will be open 24 hours a day with medical staff on hand to provide examination and victim care services. They will be based in locations in North London to provide, in conjunction with the existing Camberwell Haven, pan-London coverage.

The need for pan-London Haven facilities was a major recommendation of the MPA’s first scrutiny of services provided by the Met - ‘Rape Investigation and Victim Care’.

Richard Sumray, Chair of the Scrutiny panel, said:

“One of the key findings of the MPA Rape Scrutiny was that there should be pan-London coverage of Sexual Assault Referral Centres, or Rape Havens, providing holistic victim care.

“The existing Haven in Camberwell provides a superior service to those provided at existing police Victim Examination Suites, with doctors and other staff available 24 hours a day. They represent best practice for victim care and will alleviate many of the pressures placed upon victims by the necessary process of evidence collection.

“The Authority is extremely pleased that, having initiated discussions, an agreement has been reached with the NHS to provide matched funding. This effectively means that our aspiration to provide these much needed facilities will become a reality in the near future.”

The proposed Metropolitan Police Service budget for 2003/04 now includes a guaranteed financial provision for the two new Havens, comprising £695,000 with a commitment for future years, to be matched by Health Service funding. In a full year the running costs of the three Havens will be £3,000,000 with the MPA paying 50% of these costs.

Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of South East London Strategic Health Authority, said;

“The NHS believes that the Havens will offer an important and high quality service to victims of sexual assault. We are committed to working with the MPA to deliver access for all Londoners to these vital services.”

Tim Godwin, Acting Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said:

“The new Havens have been made possible through partnership between the Met, the MPA and the NHS. As a result we will be able to offer high quality professional treatment and care to victims of sexual assault across the whole of London, building upon the success and good practice of the Haven Camberwell.”

Notes to editors

1. Current Victim examination facilities: following the report of a crime, Sexual Offence Investigating Team (SOIT) officers will take victims of rape to a location for a forensic medical examination. At the moment victims in 12 South London boroughs are taken to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), known as The Haven, in Camberwell. Elsewhere in London victims will be taken to a police Victim Examination Suite (VES).

2. The Haven is a facility for examining victims of rape and other sexual assault offences. It differs from VESs in that it provides a full time staffed facility and is always open with doctors on site ready to deal with victims of crime. VESs are usually converted flats next to or near to a police station. They are not staffed and police and victims wait there for a medical examiner to attend.

3. The MPA’s Rape Scrutiny heard evidence regarding both of these types of facilities and visited the Haven and two VESs. The Haven was found to provide a superior service of all round victim care, 24-hour coverage, access to other medical services and better facilities for the collection of DNA evidence and recommended that ‘Two further SARCs should be developed in London to provide pan-London coverage . . . partly funded by the NHS.’ 

4. The MPA Scrutiny - ‘Rape Investigation and Victim Care’ – is available as a PDF document (See Supporting material).

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