Found: Legislative Scrutiny: Sentencing Bill Ordered, that the Chair write to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary

Found: why did the Department not pilot this policy of suspending short sentences—as included within the Sentencing

Found: the Government’s plans to introduce a presumption to suspend short -term sentences, as part of the Sentencing

Found: www.gov.uk/government/statistical -data-sets/hmcts -management -information -october -2023 5 Question 6 – Sentencing

Found: For more detailed information please see the Impact Assessment within the Sentencing Bill 2023:

Found: the Government’s plans to introduce a pre sumption to suspend short -term sentences, as part of the Sentencing

Found: Alex Chalk KC MP Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice to the Committee to regarding he Sentencing

Found: When will the Sentencing Bill be returning to the Commons for its Committee stage?

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of provisions in the Sentencing Bill on the number of new probation officers required.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Justice)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure serious sex offenders serve their entire sentence in custody.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Justice)

Unlike Labour, who in Government reduced the prison time served by all Standard Determinate Sentence prisoners (including rapists and serious violent offenders) from two thirds of their sentence to half, we have taken a robust approach to increasing both the sentence length of rapists and the proportion of that sentence served in prison.

Average sentence length for adult rapists has increased by over 40% since 2010, from around 6.5 years to over 9.5 years. We have also reversed Labour’s changes, so that rapists and other serious sexual offenders currently serve two thirds of that time behind bars.

But we are now going further. The Sentencing Bill, introduced on 14 November, will ensure that rapists and serious sexual offenders serve their full custodial term in prison, before being released on a fixed licence period, which is critical for public protection and in reducing reoffending.

Offenders convicted of certain serious sex offences, including rape, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment will no longer receive a standard determinate sentence with automatic or discretionary early release by the Parole Board. Instead, these offenders will now get an Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) or a Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern (SOPC).

The Bill also alters the release arrangements for these offences so that they will now serve the entirety of the appropriate custodial term in custody, with no referral to the Parole Board at the two-thirds point.

Found: • Working to deliver the Victims and Prisoners Bill, the Sentencing Bill and the Criminal Justice

Found: following the successful passage of the Procurement Act 2023 • deliver the Criminal Justice Bill, the Sentencing

Found: 70Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Gareth Bacon MP Responsibilities include: ● Sentencing Policy ● Sentencing