Provision of Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Research (RASSO)

The supplier shall have a proven track record on issues related to equality and human rights including gender-based violence. Understanding and expertise of issues related to RASSO will be required. The supplier will provide a detailed research report to fulfil the scope of the contract. We request that providers set out detailed research methodologies that will achieve our goals. At a minimum, unless advised otherwise, we would expect the following services to be delivered:

• Equality impact assessment: to identify and respond to issues relevant to different groups of people including consideration of intersectionality
• Literature review: to undertake a review of relevant research in place in relation to public understanding as per the scope for the contract.
• Audience Insight Research: Three to five roundtable meetings (potentially virtually given measures to manage Covid-19 in a secure and effective way) with experts from a range of fields on RASSO. Including, but not limited to: leading rape advocates, CPS Heads of RASSO Units, academics, victims' groups and other Government departments and agencies. This should focus on public understanding as per the scope of the contract.
• Media Discourse Analysis: including consideration of agents of change, mapping the gap between the 'expert view' and the 'dominant view' in society and influential factors around public understanding (as per the scope of the contract) in terms of values, language and feeling.
• Testing: Rigorous quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis of the findings from the literature review, audience insight research and media discourse analysis to include randomised controlled trials with a representative sample of members of the public (bearing in mind intersectionality) including the creation of a baseline; recruitment; development, implementation and analysis of survey findings.