Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) victims and (b) the (i) family and (ii) friends of victims of crime will be represented on the expert panel for the Independent Sentencing Review 2024 to 2025.

The Review will be chaired by the former Lord Chancellor, the Rt Hon David Gauke, supported by a panel which includes expertise drawn from prisons and probation operations, prosecution, academia, law enforcement, victims, and the judiciary.

The process for the appointment of the panel follows the usual public law principles which are applicable to all ministerial decision-making, and within the scope of direct ministerial appointments. Appointments must be rational, procedurally fair, and non-discriminatory.

This Sentencing Review aims to ensure that there is always a place in prison for violent offenders, and victims will always know that justice will be done. It will also aim to ensure that sentences are consistent and make sense to victims and the public. That is why a victims’ representative forms part of the multidisciplinary panel conducting the Review.

Following the launch of the Review on 22 October, appointments were finalised in early and mid-November, and subsequently published on 14 November on GOV.UK.