- New legal requirement for Sentencing Council guidelines to be agreed by the Justice Secretary before they are issued
- Lady Chief Justice will also need to explicitly approve any new guidelines
- Part of Government’s Plan for Change to build public confidence in the justice system
The Sentencing Council will be unable to issue new guidelines without the explicit approval of the Justice Secretary, strengthening democratic oversight of the body. The approval of the Lady Chief Justice will also be required before new guidelines are issued.
Today’s news follows a disagreement between the Justice Secretary and Sentencing Council earlier this year over planned new guidelines which the Justice Secretary argued would result in “a clear example of differential treatment” and risked “undermining public confidence in a justice system that is built on the idea of equality before the law”.
While a new law introduced in June blocked these sentencing guidelines, the Justice Secretary is clear the Council should not be allowed to stray into setting policy without the direction of Parliament and committed to “right the democratic deficit that has been uncovered”.
As part of the Sentencing Bill, introduced in the House of Commons today, both the Justice Secretary and the Lady Chief Justice will be given individual – and separate – powers requiring them to approve any future guidelines before they can be issued.
Enshrined in law, this means any new directive issued by the Sentencing Council will require the explicit approval of both. If the either oppose the guidance, it will not be issued.
The new powers will end a historic democratic deficit, ensuring Parliament’s legitimate role in setting the sentencing framework is recognised and upheld, while maintaining and strengthening judicial and democratic oversight.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood said:
Individual sentencing decisions will always be the responsibility of the independent judiciary – and this is something I will staunchly defend.
However, policy must be set by parliamentarians, who answer to the people.
Government and Parliament have a legitimate role in setting the sentencing framework. It is right that we now have greater democratic and judicial oversight of the direction of the Council’s work and the final guidelines they publish.
The move forms part of wider reforms to sentencing policy as set out in today’s Sentencing Bill. This landmark legislation also includes measures to ensure prisons never run out of space again, including Texas-style earned release sentences and bold new action to toughen up community punishment.
This comes alongside the Government’s prison building programme, the largest expansion in the estate since the Victorian era. The Government has already opened 2,500 new places since taking office, and has invested £7bn in construction, on track to deliver 14,000 places by 2031.
Tens of thousands more offenders will also be tagged and monitored thanks to a huge boost in investment for the Probation Service, with an increase of up to £700 million by 2028/29, up 45 percent from the current budget.
There will also be a requirement for the Council to seek approval from the Justice Secretary of its annual business plan. The reforms do not interfere with the independence of judges in making individual sentencing decisions.
