Section 20 amends sections 120 and 122 of the 2009 Act to introduce a statutory requirement for the Council to obtain approval from both the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice for all sentencing guidelines prior to issuing them as final, definitive guidelines.
	Section 120(7) and (8) provide that the Council must, after consulting on draft guidelines and considering any post-consultation revisions, issue them as definitive guidelines. Section 122(5) makes similar provision with specific regard to allocation guidelines. This section amends section 120(7), (8) and (10), and section 122(5) and (7), to provide that consent from both the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice must first be sought and given before any definitive guidelines are issued.
	This section also inserts new sections 120(8A) – (8C) and 122 (5A) – (5C) which:
require the Lady Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, as soon as practicable after receiving a guideline for approval, to consider it;
provide that the Lady Chief Justice and/or the Lord Chancellor may only withhold consent for a guideline if they consider it is necessary to do so in order to maintain public confidence in the criminal justice system; and
set out that if the Lady Chief Justice and/or the Lord Chancellor, as the case may be, withholds consent, they must, as soon as practicable after making the decision, lay before Parliament a document stating the reason for the decision.
Part 1: Sentencing Section 20: Sentencing guidelines