§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in force for referring the cases of life sentence prisoners to the Parole Board for England and Wales; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. R. CarrThe practice hitherto has been that all life sentence cases are referred to the local review committee at the prison and thereafter to the Parole Board after not more than seven years. Cases which appear to call for earlier consideration—for example, because of exceptional mitigating circumstances—are referred sooner. I have now concluded, with the agreement of the Parole Board, that it is unnecessary for every case to182W be formally reviewed after a fixed period of not more than seven years. This is so particularly in the case of a prisoner who, because of the gravity of his crime, or the danger which he still presents to the public, will clearly have to be detained for many more years. Accordingly, the date of the first referral of each case to the local review committee and the Parole Board will in future be fixed in consultation between the Home Office and the board, according to the circumstances of the particular case and the prisoner's conduct and progress.