Publication types:
Corporate reports

Publication topics:
Corporate

Published on:

14 July 2020

The Council is required by statute to provide the Lord Chancellor with a report on the exercise of the Council’s functions during the year, which the Lord Chancellor must lay before Parliament. The report for 2019/20 is Lord Justice Holroyde’s second report as Chairman of the Sentencing Council. It documents the Council’s achievements of the year 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, which include:

  • publishing three definitive guidelines, all of which have come into force:
    • Arson and Criminal Damage;
    • General Guidelines and Expanded Explanations; and
    • Public Order Offences.
  • holding consultations on:
    • Firearms Offences;
    • Terrorism Offences (revised);
    • Drug Offences (revised);
    • Driving disqualification offences, breaches of community orders and totality; and
    • Overarching Principles: Sentencing people with mental disorders, developmental disorders or neurological impairments.

The report also details the consultation opened this year by the Council to mark the beginning of our tenth anniversary. “What next for the Sentencing Council?” seeks views from the Council’s partners, supporters and critics on where we should focus our efforts in the next ten years, and how we should balance our priorities against limited resources.

Sentencing Council Annual Report 2019-20