The Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime, Criminal
Justice and Fire has a responsibility to provide services for
victims of crime, including victims of rape and sexual
assault.
The amount to be invested is a provisional figure for 22-23 to
enable payments to be made to the provider whilst final contract
value negotiations are concluded. This forms part of the strategic
financial review that GMCA and GMHSCP have been undertaking for
services that support victims of rape and sexual offences. Any
further funding required will be the subject of a separate decision
notice.
This budget is allocated to the Greater Manchester Sexual Assault
Referral Centre, based at the St Mary’s Centre at Manchester
Foundation Trust. The provision is an all-age service which
provides support for victims of rape or sexual assault in terms of
a forensic examination and crisis support, support for people going
through the criminal justice process and therapeutic/counselling
support. The service can be accessed by a referral from an agency,
including but not exclusive to Greater Manchester Police, or
victims can also choose to self-refer. The service currently
supports anybody who lives in Greater Manchester in addition to
providing support for individuals who were assaulted in Greater
Manchester, but do not reside in the area.
Demand
There were just over 11,000 sexual offences reported to GMP in
2021-2022, of which 36% were rape. 55% of these offences were
committed against adults whilst over 5000 sexual offences were
committed against children. This included 1400 offences which were
rape against a child. Approximately 950 forensic medical
examinations are undertaken by SARC each year
Attached is a statement from colleagues at NHS Integrated Health
Trust around the selection of St Mary’s as the Greater
Manchester SARC.
Progress towards agreeing a full Service specification for SARC and
Implementing a 3 year contract
Over the course of 2022/23 we have been working with SARC to both
document the service provision with the associated costings, and
also outline the service needs to improve operational delivery to
meet demand. This is with a view to move to an agreed position over
a fixed rate contract until 2026.
In order to progress this work, we have been documenting SARCs
services based on the segregation of the service into the below 4
pillars:
1. Forensic medical examinations for adults
2. Forensic medical examinations for children / young persons
3. ISVA provision
4. Therapeutic counselling support
We have moved to a position where we are on the verge of agreeing
the service specification for pillars 1 and 2 and 3. Once we have
finalised this work, a contract will be drawn up to cover 3 years
and will be in place for financial year 2023/24
Pillar 4 The Therapeutic counselling support has inherent
complications as demand has stripped capacity at SARC. We will seek
procurement advice on meeting commercial compliance regulations
with any agreed way forward for this work.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Notice of proposed decision first published: 09/03/2023
Decision due: 8 Mar 2023 by Director for Safer and Stronger Communities, GM Deputy Mayor, Group Finance Officer
Contact: Lisa Lees Email: lisa.lees@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.