What action it is taking to ensure that women have faith in the justice system when reporting incidents of gender-based violence.

As I said in the recent debate on violence against women and girls, when women do need recourse to the Justice system, it is equally important that we respond effectively, competently and with compassion and understanding.
We are clear that the justice system must do more to ensure that women and girls who have experienced any form of gender-based violence have the confidence to come forward, and are supported to report these terrible crimes.
Our Equally Safe Strategy sets out a vision to prevent violence from occurring in the first place, build the capability and capacity of support services, and strengthen the justice response to victims and perpetrators.
Our Justice Vision, prioritises the experience women and girls have of the justice system. We know the justice journey can be deeply traumatising, and it is extremely important for this to minimised, in order to support recovery.
That’s why we are proposing the Criminal Justice Reform Bill. The Bill will be informed by responses to a recent public consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system that takes forward the work of the Victims Taskforce and recommendations from Lady Dorrian’s Review on Improving the Management of Sexual Offence Cases.
Through the Women’s Justice Leadership Panel, we are also discussing all aspects of the justice system to consider the experience and unique needs of women, and what changes may need to be embedded within our criminal justice processes.