Three new centres to help victims of sexual assault are to be set up, the government announced today, while insisting the justice system's handling of rape cases is improving.

The new government-funded support projects will be established in Durham, Swindon in Wiltshire, and Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales at a cost of £70,000 each, the Home Office announced.
Meanwhile, the solicitor general, Harriet Harman, told Guardian Unlimited that the government's reforms relating to sexual assault cases were beginning to yield results.