Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the process for determining an individual’s sentence following conviction by the courts.

It is for the courts to decide the appropriate sentence within the maximum penalty set by Parliament, taking into account the law, any relevant sentencing guidelines and the facts of the individual case.

The Ministry of Justice publish sentencing statistics on a regular basis. As sentencing is entirely a matter for the Judiciary, who are independent, the Ministry of Justice would not comment on perceived disparities between sentences in individual cases.