Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on the White Paper entitled A smarter approach to sentencing.

The Ministry of Justice published a Sentencing White Paper – ‘A Smarter Approach to Sentencing’ - in September 2020, which set out the department’s plans for a system that protects the public, as well as one which the public can understand and have confidence in.

The reforms announced in the White Paper were about ensuring that the most serious and dangerous offenders are kept in prison for longer, while also tackling the underlying causes of criminal behaviour and improving the rehabilitation and supervision of offenders in the community.

The legislative measures in the White Paper formed the basis of the sentencing measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which was passed earlier this year, with most measures having commenced on 28 June 2022. Measures included abolishing automatic halfway release for certain serious offenders, making a Whole Life Order the default sentencing position for offenders who commit the premeditated murder of a child, and preventing the automatic early release for offenders who become of significant public protection concern while in custody. Other measures included a statutory duty to consult on the design and delivery of unpaid work, increasing the length and flexibility of electronically monitored curfew, and streamlining the out of court disposals framework. We also brought forward measures to allow the piloting of Problem-Solving Courts and we have announced three sites that we are working closely with to launch the pilots.

The White Paper also made a number of non-legislative commitments. We have made significant progress on these commitments and work on implementation is ongoing. Key areas of progress include the cross-government Action Plan on neurodiversity which we published in June this year, in response to the independent Evidence Review we commissioned. An update on the progress made on the Action Plan is due to published shortly. We also launched the Pre-Sentence Report Pilot in March 2021, with the initial findings from the process evaluation due to be published in 2023, and we are undertaking an evaluation of the national Community Treatment Sentence Requirement programme, with early feedback expected in 2023.