Part 4 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, which received the royal assent in November 2009, includes detailed provisions on the new Sentencing Council for England and Wales. The Council will take over the functions of the Sentencing Advisory Panel and the Sentencing Guidelines Council. Sections 118–136 provide the new statutory framework, supported by Schedule 15 on the membership of the Council and Schedule 21 on consequential amendments.

Issues arising from some of the reforms are discussed in Chapter 1.5 and Chapter 2.2, but without having the definitive text of the new law. In this short appendix, the Act's provisions will be assessed under four headings – the Council's basic duties and powers; the Council's membership; the duties of the courts; and broader duties and powers of the Council.

The Council's basic duties and powers

The Council has a power to prepare sentencing guidelines on any sentencing matter (s. 120(4)) and to prepare allocation guidelines (s. 122(2)), but has a duty to prepare guidelines on the reduction in sentencing for guilty pleas (which the SGC has already done: see Chapter 5.4 above), and also on the totality principle in sentencing (which the SGC has been reluctant to do: see Chapter 8.5 above).