Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's report, Tackling Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: 2018 Update, published in October 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of implementing recommendation 13 on publishing all sentencing remarks in the Crown Court in audio and/or written form.
We welcomed David Lammy MP’s Review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority individuals in the Criminal Justice System when it was published in 2017. We remain committed to taking each recommendation from that review forward in some way.
Ensuring that the courts are both transparent and comprehensible is essential, and publishing sentencing remarks would enable greater public understanding of sentencing decisions. We continue to consider how recommendation 13 could be taken forward. We are considering how the HMCTS Court Reform Programme and continuing developments in technology could provide new, cost-effective options for taking this forward.