Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of defendants changing a plea from not guilty to guilty at a late stage in proceedings on victims of offences of controlling or coercive behaviour under the Serious Crime Act 2015; whether he has assessed the extent to which current sentencing arrangements might incentivise late changes of plea; and whether he plans to review sentencing guidance on reductions for late guilty pleas in such cases.

We recognise that guilty pleas made earlier in the process can save victims and witnesses from the concern of having to give evidence, particularly in cases involving controlling or coercive behaviour or domestic abuse. Even if an offender pleads later in the process, this can still save victims from giving potentially traumatic evidence, but the later plea is reflected by a lower reduction in the sentence, as set out in guidelines produced by the Sentencing Council.

In Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of Criminal Courts, he made a number of recommendations relating to early guilty pleas, including a recommendation to increase the maximum reduction in sentence for a guilty plea from 33% to 40% with the aim of increasing the number of defendants pleading earlier in the process. We will set out our full response to Sir Brian’s remaining recommendations, alongside Part 2 of his review, in due course.