The council recently came in for severe criticism, being described as a “monument to inertia” and “functionally irrelevant”.

Council chair, the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Beckett, said that a public consultation had been held in 2024-25 on the draft sentencing guidelines on rape offences.

The council first pledged to begin work in this area seven years ago.

Lord Beckett added: “Rape offences are an area of great public concern and account for a significant proportion of sentencing in the High Court. Sentencing guidelines on these offences will assist courts and promote greater consistency and predictability. They will also provide clarity for victims.”

He continued: “We made advances in other areas of our work this year, including progress on guidelines on domestic abuse and sentencing following a guilty plea, while I am pleased to note that we resumed work on guidelines covering environmental and wildlife crimes.

“We also made a major contribution towards policy development by carrying out extensive research and engagement on the sentencing of people with mental health conditions and related issues. This resulted in two important publications: an issues paper exploring the views and experiences of members of the judiciary, and a report summarising discussions at a stakeholder conference we held in August 2024. This work expanded understanding of the challenges involved in this area and we hope it will assist stakeholders in both the health and justice sectors in efforts to improve service provision and delivery.

“Throughout the year, we continued to promote awareness and understanding of sentencing by publishing a range of accessible educational materials and important research on public attitudes and the views of victims towards sentencing.”