HL Deb 01 April 1985 vol 462 cc1-3
Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many offences have been committed in each of the last five years by convicted persons while on parole during the currency of sentences imposed on them by the courts.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Glenarthur)

My Lords, the numbers known to have been convicted of further offences while on parole licence, as given each year in the Parole Board's Report, are as follows: in 1980 417; in 1981 537; in 1982 690; and in 1983 516. The provisional figure for 1984 is 431.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for those rather disturbing figures. May I ask him whether they would not be smaller if the wise and experienced people who now serve on the Parole Board actually saw the convicted man before deciding to recommend his release upon the public?

Lord Glenarthur

My Lords, in practical terms that would be difficult. There are over 100 establishments—that is to say, prisons—scattered throughout the country and over 5,000 cases a year. Of course, it is an administrative procedure and not a judicial one, and the figures that I gave must be set against the numbers who are paroled and who do not commit offences.

Lord Harris of Greenwich

My Lords, following the point made by the noble Lord on the Government Front Bench, does he agree, first, that it would be quite impossible for the Parole Board to interview several thousand prisoners a year and wholly outside their capacity to undertake such a task? Secondly, is he aware that many of us regard the figures he has given as rather encouraging, indicating as they do a reduction in the number of prisoners who have committed offences in the last three years?

Lord Glenarthur

Yes, my Lords, I think that the noble Lord is right. In answering my noble friend's supplementary question, that is precisely the point that I sought to make. So far as his second supplementary question is concerned, yes, I think it is encouraging.

Lord Elwyn-Jones

My Lords, can the noble Lord give the figure of the number of those granted parole, but who did not subsequently commit a criminal offence? It might be a very useful corrective.

Lord Glenarthur

My Lords, I can tell the noble and learned Lord that in 1983, to take the most recent year for which we have figures, of 5,346 who were paroled, 4,830 did not commit an offence. I think that that makes the noble and learned Lord's point.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that his administrative argument against what would have seemed to many to be the elementary practice of seeing a convicted man before he is released upon the public, will not altogether satisfy those members of the public who suffer from the depredations of people unnecessarily released on them, nor would it seem to be an adequate answer to those who object to it?

Lord Glenarthur

My Lords, it was only part of the answer which I gave. The fact is that, of course, the Parole Board are constantly vigilant about the sort of cases that they have to deal with, and they realise their responsibilities as much as any of us do.

Lord Hunt

My Lords, is the Minister able to confirm that the relatively low percentage of offences committed while on parole have, with very few exceptions, been relatively minor offences against property valued at under £100 and have been committed by inadequate petty, persistent criminals who need supervision and support in the community? Has not Home Office research shown that that supervision and support has been effective in limiting the number of offences, not only during parole but for two years after completion of the sentence?

Lord Glenarthur

Yes, my Lords. I think that the noble Lord is right. The percentage of serious offences which have been committed—and by "serious" I am thinking of violence, robbery and sexual offences—in 1983 was 14 per cent. and it has reduced provisionally to 11 per cent. in 1984. I think that that is the sort of figure that the noble Lord is concerned about.

Lord Allen of Abbeydale

My Lords, we naturally hear a good deal about the cases which go wrong, but not so much about the cases which are successful. I wonder whether the noble Lord will convey to his noble friend and to the other members of the Parole Board the great appreciation which many of us feel for the conscientious, and in general pretty successful, way in which they discharge a very difficult task.

Lord Glenarthur

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord for that question and of course I shall do as he asks. They have a major responsiblity to bear and the noble Lord is quite right when he says that it is the individuals who go wrong who always hit the headlines.

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