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Coroners and Justice Bill

This group of amendments relates to the duty on the council to promote an awareness of matters relating to sentencing. Amendment 191ZA changes the requirement on the council so that it "must" promote awareness rather than that it "may" do so. It is worth noting that there is a distinction between subsections (1) and (2) of Clause 115. The duty on the council in Clause 115(1) means the council "must" publish information on sentencing whereas Clause 115(2) provides that the council "may," promote awareness of matters relating to sentencing. This difference is deliberate. The first is a straightforward duty to publish sentencing data. The promotion of awareness is, however, a much more abstract concept and it is, in our view, less appropriate to tie an independent body to such a statutory duty. The Government recognise the importance of promoting an awareness of sentencing issues. We also recognise, however, that the council’s central function is to produce guidelines and to make assessments of the impacts of those guidelines. This will be a significant piece of work. The primary role of the council in setting guidelines means that there is—in fact, there has to be—a significant judicial membership of the council. We should not seek to compromise the independence of those judicial members by placing them in a position where they could be considered to be, or even perceived to be, undertaking a political role. I have in mind, for example, difficulties that might arise if the council’s role is considered to be to promote one kind of sentence over another or to suggest to the public alternatives to custody. It seems to me sensible, therefore, to give the council some discretion as to how it promotes awareness, respecting the role of the Government in setting out penal policy and the resources assigned to correctional services, and the role of Parliament in setting the sentencing framework. Amendment 191ZB amends the illustrative list of information the council may use to promote awareness to read "custodial and non-custodial sentences" rather than just "sentences". I do not think this is a necessary clarification for the council. Given its membership, I am sure it will appreciate that "sentences" includes the entire range of sentences from absolute discharges via fines and community orders to life imprisonment. Finally, Amendment 191ZD makes suggestions about how the council should go about promoting awareness, including programmes of education and making grants to bodies to carry out educational programmes. There are many ways in which the council may promote awareness, including the ways set out in this amendment, but the Government do not believe that it is necessary to spell these out as the council already has discretion to undertake these types of activities. The Government do not want to discourage the council from promoting an awareness of sentencing. We want the council to undertake this role—in fact, we actively encourage it—which is why we have set it out in the Bill. What we are concerned about, however, is that this particular role is tying the council to a duty that it may consider inappropriate and impossible to deliver, which would negate any benefits to be gained from the duty. That is why we think the council needs discretion in this particular regard. I hope that in the light of this explanation, the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, will agree to withdraw her amendment.