HC Deb 18 March 2004 vol 419 cc29-31WS
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Paul Goggins)

The right hon. Member for Brent, South, (Mr. Boateng), when Prisons Minister, announced the Comprehensive Review of Parole and Lifer Processes on 11 February 2000. Its remit was to examine the parole and lifer systems, identify the key issues to be faced over the next five years and recommend appropriate changes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the relevant procedures. The review also included a "Better Quality Services" review and the first quinquennial review of the Parole Board since it became an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body in 1996.

The review made 118 recommendations relating to a range of process and organisational improvements, which included: reducing the Discretionary Conditional Release (Parole) review timetable; Improving the efficiency of the mandatory lifer review process; Changing lifer oral hearing procedures to improve efficiency and quality of decision-making; Improving dossier content quality and reducing duplication and waste; Clarification of roles and possible efficiencies in decision making; Organisation of the Parole Board; some cross-cutting issues, including information for victims; Improving Secretary of State Directions for the release of determinate sentence prisoners.

Significant achievements have been made on a number of review recommendations. For example:

Lifer cases and oral hearings A new scheme for the preparation and submission of mandatory lifer dossiers has considerably speeded up the review process. A new key performance target for lifer dossier production, requiring 80 per cent. of dossiers to be sent to the Parole Board on target, is now being achieved. Oral hearings to review the recall of extended sentence prisoners have been successfully introduced. The Parole Board has developed a system for appraising judicial members of the Board, who currently chair most of the Board's oral hearings. Recalls New procedures to ensure timely processing of recall requests made by the Probation Service have been successfully introduced. New arrangements for handling representations against recall have been implemented and which provide for a greater input from the probation service. Furthermore, the Secretary of State has issued new Directions to the Board on considering of recalls and their representations against recall, which has clarified the Board's role and the basis on which it is asked to take decisions and make recommendations. The Directions are also now more in line with the Probation Service National Standards on licence enforcement and reflect that the aim of licence enforcement should be not only to reduce the risk of further offending, but also to make clear that the licence period is an integral part of the sentence and compliance with licence conditions is an important part of licence supervision. Deportees Improving the operational and working practices between the Prison Service and IND, which has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of parole notifications issued on target. Parole Board Organisation A Review of corporate governance, resulting in tighter terms of reference for management committees. The Board also achieved IiP status and has recently achieved re-accreditation. Members and staff development has become a greater priority for the Board, with systematic training needs analysis and evaluation mechanisms adopted. The Board is also in the process of developing a whole system approach with the Prison Service to implement change and has improved its focus upon communication, both internal and external. The Parole Process The Review provided an opportunity to raise the profile of the parole process which was achieved via the 42 area committees of the Criminal Justice Strategy Committees and the National Criminal Justice Consultative Council. A series of Parole Clerk Fora have been introduced to provide for training and topical issues to be discussed. This has given parole clerks a much-needed voice to highlight areas of "best practice" and these suggestions are being taken forward in order to further improve parole performance. The Review has also led to Victim Personal Statements taken by the police at the time of the offence being included, where available, in parole dossiers. Victims are also generally more informed about the parole process.

Of the 118 recommendations, only 18 remain to be completed. The Review is being project managed by the Early Release and Recall Section of the Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit of the Home Office, working in conjunction with the Probation Service, Prison Service, Immigration and Nationality Directorate and the Parole Board. Their progress is being monitored by a Programme Board (which is chaired by the Head of the Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit), in which all the relevant criminal justice agencies are represented. I have decided that the time is right formally to draw the review to a close, although the work on the outstanding recommendations will continue and I will receive regular reports on its progress.

As a part of the Review, the Secretary of State's Directions to the Parole Board concerning the release of determinate sentence prisoners have been reviewed and a revised copy of these Directions has been served upon the Parole Board today. The purpose of the Directions is to structure the Board's discretion and require it to have regard to risk. The balance of the Directions is between public protection and the rehabilitative benefits of early release.

In reviewing the existing Directions, a number of considerations were taken into account.

We were concerned that the voice of the victim, when considering whether or not a determinate sentence prisoner is suitable for early release on parole, needed to be heard. The Victim's Charter and Victim Personal Statements have been in use for some time now, with the latter being a useful vehicle for victims to state how they have been affected by the offence. We were keen to build on this by requiring the Board to consider the impact of the offence upon the victim or the victim's family when assessing suitability for early release on parole.

The existing Directions make no reference to previous record (save in the case of violent and sexual offenders and then only to previous offences of three similar nature). Previous offending (and previous custodial penalties) is the most reliable predictor of future offending, and we were concerned that the new Directions should recognise this.

The existing Directions rightly draw attention to the relevance of previous breaches of trust. However, they fail to include the prisoner's likely compliance with the conditions of his licence, taking into account where there have been breaches of trust in the past and during the course of his present sentence. This omission has been rectified.

The new Directions require the Parole Board to take account of an actuarial risk predictor tool, where such a tool is available.

In conclusion, the new Directions provide a sharper focus on risk assessment and, for the first time, formally recognises the role of victims in the parole process. They will come into force on 1 May 2004.

Copies of the Directions are available in the House Library.