National Stalking Awareness Week

That this House acknowledges National Stalking Awareness Week, beginning on 22 April; notes that stalking and harassment accounted for a third of all police recorded violence in the year ending September 2023 and that around 1.6 million people over 16 were estimated to be victims of stalking in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023; further notes that only 6.6 per cent of reports of stalking to the police in the year ending March 2022 resulted in a Crown Prosecution Service charge, with only 1.4 per cent of cases ending in conviction; recognises such failings across the criminal justice system in relation to stalking offences, particularly in terms of support provided to victims of stalking as campaigners including the victims’ commissioner for London, Claire Waxman, and Gwynedd activist, Rhianon Bragg, have underlined; highlights the recommendations of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, including specialist stalking training requirements for all professionals dealing with stalking cases and a unified recording system to be used by all agencies involved to follow a victim’s journey through the criminal justice system; calls for the establishment of dedicated, specially trained multi-agency teams in each police force area to work positively to manage stalking behaviours and reduce the risk of harm for victims; and further calls on the Government to revise stalking laws alongside wider criminal justice system reforms, including the introduction of a single standalone stalking offence to ensure more robust sentencing.