§ Mr. Alex Carlileasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of prisoners who became eligible for parole under section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 has been or will be released during the first week of July;
(2) how many prisoners who on 1 July became eligible for parole under section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 had not had their cases dealt with by the local review committee by their earliest possible parole date;
(3) how many prisoners became eligible for parole pursuant to section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 during the first week of July;
(4) how many prisoners who became eligible for parole under section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 have been or will be released during the first week of July;
223W(5) how many prisoners serving sentences of between 18 and 24 months have missed their earliest parole date because their cases have not yet been considered by the local review committee.
§ Mr. HurdInformation in the form requested is not available centrally and could be obtained, if at all, only at disproportionate cost. We estimate, however, that about 2,000 prisoners will be released on parole during the first week in July, principally as a result of the reduction in the minimum qualifying period for parole from 12 months to six months. Information available to date indicates that about 80 per cent. of the newly eligible prisoners are being recommended for parole; the recommendation rate for those serving sentences for which the parole scheme already applied, but whose parole eligibility dates have been brought forward as a result of the reduction in the minimum qualifying period will vary according to sentence length but should, on past selection rates, be about 70 per cent. Since parole is considered individually, cases can be delayed for a number of reasons such as the obtaining of reports and the finalisation of release plans.
§ Mr. Alex Carlileasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional housing and hostel resources have been provided to assist those prisoners released on parole during the first week of July under section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982.
§ Mr. MellorNo additional resources have been provided specifically for this purpose. But since 1979 1,300 additional places have been provided in after-care hostels and 230 places in probation hostels.