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Coroners and Justice Bill

I support the observations of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, and urge the Government to resist the suggestion that subsection (11)(b) or (d) should be removed. In relation to subsection (11)(b) and the need for the sentencing council, ""to have regard to … the need to promote consistency"," I do not understand the promotion of consistency to be the enemy of flexibility if, and in so far as, flexibility is appropriate in the circumstances of individual cases. Surely the promotion of consistency is an important objective for the sentencing council, because it needs to ensure that the sentences are clear and that all available options are there for the sentencer to ensure that the circumstances of the individual case can be met and that arbitrary distinctions are therefore avoided. As to paragraph (d), the relevance of the cost of different sentencing and the relative effectiveness in preventing reoffending are surely core objectives for the sentencing council. It must not be required to conduct an academic exercise. It is absolutely vital that it has regard to the real world and to the real impact of the sentencing options that it is considering.