To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the merits of introducing differential sentencing discounts for guilty pleas made (a) before trial and (b) at trial. (105690)

[holding answer 11 December 2006]: Such a differential is already provided for in the guideline on reduction in sentence for a guilty plea, published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2004. It states that

“the level of the reduction will be gauged on a sliding scale ranging from a maximum of one third (where the guilty plea was entered at the first reasonable opportunity in relation to the offence for which sentence is being imposed), reducing to a maximum of one quarter (where a trial date has been set) and to a maximum of one tenth (for a guilty plea entered at the ‘door of the court’ or after the trial has begun).”