Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord’s amendment would place a duty on the sentencing council to ""inform, consult and engage with the public on penal issues"," rather than, as the Bill currently stands, operate with discretion to promote awareness of sentencing. The noble Lord has justified the amendment with his customary skill and imagination, fortified by some very interesting statistics. In Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater of Butterstone, suggested holding "Any Questions"-style meetings across the country to help to promote understanding of the judicial system. All those ideas have an attraction, certainly, but we must not forget that the primary purpose of the sentencing council is to set guidelines for sentencing, and, as such, has as its members several members of the judiciary. We are concerned that, if there was a statutory duty on the council to engage with the public, that might risk involving its members with campaigning, which might well not sit with the independence of the judiciary. We note, too, that under Clause 119(1) the council must publish data but under subsection (2) it "may promote awareness". That distinction is important. There is a duty to publish information about sentencing and once that information is in the public realm it is there for everyone to make use of as they think fit. However, while that duty is correct and easy to judge if it has been met, it is considerably more difficult to place a duty on the council to promote awareness. For example, by what standard will we decide if the council has met its obligations? We commend the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, and the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater of Butterstone, for raising the issue of public awareness of sentencing matters, but in this instance we do not think that they should press the amendment to a vote.