Coroners and Justice Bill
12:00 pm
Paul Cavadino: First, the Bill does not require sentencing guidelines to take account of resources. I would be sympathetic to a case for its doing so, but it does not. In clause 102, a range of factors are set out that the guidelines have to take account of. They have to have regard to, for example, current sentencing practice, the need to promote consistency, the need to promote public confidence and the cost and effectiveness of different sentences. That is a replication of the statutory requirements that currently apply to the Sentencing Guidelines Council. It does not say in that clause that the guidelines must have regard to penal resources. Clause 109 says that the sentencing council should publish assessments of the impact on resources in relation both to the number of prison places and to the probation and youth justice services.