Sentencing guidelines bill enters Lords committee stage

The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill aims to prevent sentencing guidelines from referring to personal characteristics such as race, religion or belief, and cultural background in their guidance regarding when a pre-sentence report should be requested.

Line by line examination

Committee stage is a thorough examination of the individual parts (clauses) of the bill. 

Starting from the front of the bill, members work through the clauses in order, considering changes (amendments) to the wording or proposals for new clauses. 

Proposed changes

Members speaking at committee stage put forward amendments (PDF) (changes) to the bill on subjects including:

• preferred use of the term 'protected characteristics'
• discretion of the Sentencing Council
• report details on reducing reoffending 
• impact of legislation on existing case law.

Catch up

• Watch on Parliament TV.
• Read the Lords Hansard transcript.

Explore further information 

Find out more about the bill in the House of Lords Library briefing. 

Next Steps

Report stage, a further chance to closely scrutinise elements of the bill and make changes, is scheduled for Wednesday 4 June.

What's happened so far?

Second reading

Second reading, a full debate on the key principles of the bill, took place on Wednesday 7 May.

Image: Adobe Stock