Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment she has made of the impact of the unduly lenient sentencing scheme on levels of paedophile crime.

The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme in England and Wales permits the Court of Appeal to review a sentence, correct a sentencing error, and give guidance on how to approach some of the most serious and complex sentencing exercises.

The Court of Appeal will only grant permission to refer a sentence in exceptional circumstances: for example, if the judge has passed a sentence that falls outside the range of sentences which a judge, applying their mind to all the relevant factors before them, could properly consider appropriate, or if the judge has made some gross error in law.

The scheme is kept under constant review. In November 2019, 14 new offences were added to the scheme. These included offences relating to indecent images of children.

In 2022, the Law Officers referred 139 cases to the Court of Appeal. The Court granted leave to refer in 105 (75%) cases and the sentence was increased in 95 (68%) cases. Of the 95 cases in which the sentence was increased, 23 (24%) were sentences for child sex offences.