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The Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) is putting out to consultation today a draft guideline to assist sentencers dealing with the large number of offenders who unnecessarily disrupt and delay criminal proceedings through failure to keep appointments and attend court hearings in answer to bail.

A guideline for these offences is important because of the volume of offences committed each year (which can occur at any stage of criminal proceedings), and because the behaviour has significant direct and other consequential effects on victims and witnesses, police and court resources and public confidence in the criminal justice system.

As part of the normal consultation process, the SGC has sent copies of the consultation guideline to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, the Home Secretary and the Attorney General, as well as to the Constitutional Affairs Committee and party leaders in the House of Lords.

The draft guideline should be considered in conjunction with the advice of the Sentencing Advisory Panel (also published today) which sets out a proposed approach and relevant principles in relation to sentencing those who fail to surrender to bail imposed by the police or courts. The advice and guideline also provide guidance to sentencers in relation to procedural issues relevant to sentencing for this offence.

The consultation closes on 25 July 2007.

Notes to Editors:
The consultation guideline is available on the SGC website (www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk ) along with:

• a copy of a covering letter being sent to consultees; and
• advice on the subject to the Council from the Sentencing Advisory Panel.

Printed copies of the consultation guideline, the covering letter and the advice of the Sentencing Advisory Panel may be obtained from: the Sentencing Guidelines Secretariat, 4th Floor, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE.

About the Council
The Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) was set up in 2004 in order to frame guidelines to assist courts in England and Wales dealing with criminal cases.

Created by statute, the SGC and the Sentencing Advisory Panel are independent non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. They share a joint Secretariat.

The Council is chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, with seven other members from the judiciary and four members who between them bring experience of policing, criminal prosecution, criminal defence, and the interests of victims of crime. Judicial members are appointed by the Lord Chief Justice: non-judicial members by the Home Secretary.

The other members of the Council are: Sir Igor Judge (Deputy Chairman); Lord Justice David Latham; Mr Justice Christopher Pitchford; HH Judge Peter Beaumont; HH Judge Michael Mettyear; Judge Timothy Workman; Malathy Sitaram JP; Anthony Edwards (Solicitor); Sir Ken Macdonald QC (Director of Public Prosecutions); Chief Constable Peter Neyroud; and Teresa Reynolds (interests of victims).

Meetings of the Council are also attended by Christine Stewart, the Director of Offender, Law and Sentencing Policy in the National Offender Management Service, and by the Chairman of the Sentencing Advisory Panel, Professor Martin Wasik.

The Sentencing Advisory Panel
The Sentencing Advisory Panel is an independent advisory and consultative body created in 1999 and now constituted under section 169 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The Panel submits its advice to the Sentencing Guidelines Council. The Panel’s advice concerns general sentencing principles and sentencing of specific offences as well as allocation (the choice of court venue – magistrates’ court or the Crown Court). Chaired by Professor Martin Wasik the Panel has 15 members.

Details of current membership can be found at: www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/about/sap/index.html