§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the parole system operates; what is the minimum length of sentence during which parole can be granted; at what stage parole is first considered; what proportion of those eligible are recommended by the parole boards; what proportion of those recommendations are accepted by him; what proportion of prisoners are accepted for parole whether or not they are recommended by parole boards; what is the average percentage of prison sentence actually served prior to parole; what percentage of (a) all prisoners and (b) prisoners convicted of violence re-offend during parole; and what proportion of prisoners who have at some stage been paroled are sentenced to further terms of imprisonment within (i) one year, (ii) two years, (iii) five years and (iv) 10 years.
§ Mr. Mayhew:Details of the operation and scope of the parole scheme and of the numbers of prisoners considered for parole, released on licence and recalled to prison in successive years are given in the "Review of Parole in England and Wales" published by the Home Office in May this year, and in the annual reports of the Parole Board. Precise information about the average percentage of prison sentence served prior to parole and the numbers of parole licensees offending while on parole is either not available or could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. In 1980, 5,077 prisoners were granted parole, 183 licences were revoked following further convictions, and the average length of parole licence was eight months and 22 days. Information on reimprisonment following a period on parole is not available, but research on the subject of parole and reconviction generally is reported in "Parole in England and Wales (Home Office Research Study No. 311W 38)" and in "Prison Statistics (England and Wales)" 1977 and 1978. All these publications are in the Library of the House.