§ Lord Westburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What changes there have been in the procedures for reviewing the cases of persons sentenced to life imprisonment.
Earl FerrersWe intend to bring the procedures applying to prisoners subject to a mandatory life sentence more closely into line with those which since 1st October 1992 have applied to prisoners who are either "discretionary life sentence prisoners" as defined in Section 34 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 or prisoners who have been certified under paragraph 9 of Schedule 12 to that Act as prisoners to whom Section 34 would have been applied if it had been in force at the time that they were sentenced. These new arrangements will also apply to any prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for an offence for which life imprisonment is the maximum penalty who are not "discretionary life sentence prisoners" and,
to any who have not been certified under paragraph 9 of Schedule 12".The effect of these changes will be that in respect of all Parole Board reviews of the cases of mandatory lifers which commence in their local establishment after or on 1st Aprill 1993, subject only to exceptions 42WA that may be necessary to safeguard the interests of third parties or the welfare of prisoners, or where disclosure would otherwise be against the public interest, all the papers which are before the board will be made available to those prisoners, in advance of the board's consideration. They will also be provided with the reasons for Parole Board recommendations and ministerial decisions regarding release. An implementation date of 1st April 1993 has been chosen in order to give prison service staff sufficient time to arrange for the necessary preparation and disclosure of the relevant papers to prisoners and for the Parole Board to provide the necessary training for its members.