§ Mr. Rymanasked the Attorney-General whether the Lord Chancellor's Department was consulted by the Magistrates' Association prior to the recent publication of a schedule of suggested sentences to be imposed by magistrates in respect of 34 different motoring offences; and whether the Lord Chancellor's Department approves of the guidelines for magistrates set out in this schedule.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe recommendations in respect of individual offences contained in the document referred to were not the subject of consultation between the Magistrates' Association and my noble Friend. Before publishing the document, however, the association was informed that my noble Friend supported in principle the proposal to issue such a publication, which is a revised version of a document which was first issued by the association with the approval of the then Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice in 1965. This approval reflected the desire of successive Lord Chancellors in recent years to encourage magistrates to follow reasonable consistency throughout the country in the sentencing policies which they apply in the exercise of the powers which Parliament has conferred upon them.