§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many convicted criminals have failed to return from home leave in each of the last five years; and for what crimes they had been convicted;
7W(2) on what criteria convicted criminals are allowed home leave; and upon whose judgment home leave is granted;
(3) in which year the system of home leave was instituted; and how many convicted criminals have committed further offences while on home leave since the system was introduced;
(4) if he will indicate what representations he has received regarding the abuse by convicted criminals of home leave.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for these matters has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Bob Dunn, dated 6 December 1993
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the grant of home leave to offenders and the availability of statistics concerning prisoners who have committed offences or absconded whilst on home leave.It is understood that the home leave scheme was introduced in the 1950s as a means of enabling suitable prisoners to have an opportunity to prepare for release as part of their throughcare and reintegration into society. Since then, there has been little change to existing policy and practice, which is set out in Circular Instruction 43/92, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. This offers guidance on the operation of the scheme to governors who are responsible for deciding, in the light of all known available information about a particular offender and the risk which he or she may present to public safety, whether it would be right to sanction the privilege of home leave. The operation of the current scheme is currently being reviewed by a working party which is expected to report shortly.We are currently considering how statistics on offences which are committed by prisoners and other home leave failures can be best collated centrally. I regret to say that at present the information you request is not available.