questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Sentencing Council's guidance entitled Imposition of community and custodial sentences - Effective from 1 April 2025, whether her Department has made an (a) estimate of the (i) additional number of pre-sentence reports required and (ii) costs of those reports and (b) assessment of the potential impact of that guidance on the (A) quality of pre-sentence reports, (B) probation service, (C) time taken for sentencing and (D) number of appeals of sentencing decisions.
answerText: Where a court is considering whether an offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody, a pre-sentence report must be obtained and considered before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, the court considers that it is unnec...
heading: Sentencing