Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Deferred
Empower the Sentencing Council to increase public engagement on draft guidelines using online tools.
Conclusion
The Sentencing Council should be empowered to do more to encourage public engagement with its consultations on draft guidelines. For example, it should explore whether it could use the approach of using online questionnaires adopted by the Sentencing Guidelines Commission in the Netherlands to encourage more responses from the public to their consultations. Online questionnaires would appear to be a more accessible form of engagement than a simple call for written evidence. We would also recommend that any expansion in the scale of public engagement also includes the use of deliberative engagement tools similar to the public dialogue used as part of this inquiry. (Paragraph 100) Public understanding of sentencing and public confidence in the criminal justice system
Government Response Summary
The government's response details the Common Platform case progression system, which is unrelated to the recommendation for the Sentencing Council to enhance public engagement with its consultations.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
21. Common Platform, launched in 2016, is a case progression system that records certain aspects of a criminal court case’s journey. It has been integral to the HMCTS Reform programme, and is currently live in 226 courts, equating to 100% of all criminal courts. The Platform has handled over 536,000 criminal cases since its rollout.