Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:45 pm on 12 March 2019.
Lord Keen of Elie
Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice), The Advocate-General for Scotland
2:45,
12 March 2019
My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right that sentencing policy clearly has an impact on the numbers in prison. He is also right that we are looking at short-term sentencing in that context. I cannot say by what date we will have concluded our consideration of the matter but, clearly, it is important. However, it is also important that we should give confidence to the judiciary and to the public in general about the effectiveness of non-custodial sentences, so this cannot be looked at in isolation. It is necessary to look at the wider picture to arrive at a workable solution.