Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Attorney General

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Robinson Excerpts
Wednesday 7th December 2022

(1 year, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Tomlinson Portrait The Solicitor General
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My hon. Friend knows a lot about the scheme and has long-term interest in it. Of those 151 cases, only eight were referred by victims and a further nine by a member of a victim’s family, and that is not just an aberration for that year; it is a consistent trend. We regularly publish updates on the outcome of these sentences, and the revised victims code includes details of the ULS scheme.

Gavin Robinson Portrait Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)
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Would the Solicitor General recognise that whenever people in this country try to have a debate around mandatory minimum sentences there is an automatic superficial reaction that talks about the need for judicial discretion, yet there are crimes for which we as a Parliament should be clear as to the appropriate sentence that people ought to expect? [Interruption.]

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. I just want to remind Members not to walk in front of other Members—[Interruption.] Mary Kelly Foy, you walked right in front of the Member who was asking the Minister a question. Please can we all wait, to help each other?