§ Ms CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultations there are with the police and victims regarding home leave for prisoners serving custodial sentences for serious assaults.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter 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 Mrs. Ann Coffey, dated October 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about consultations with police and victims regarding home leave for prisoners serving sentences for serious assaults.Guidance on home leave is contained in Prison Service Circular Instruction 43/1992, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. When deciding whether to grant leave prison governors should take account of the attitude of known victims in the local community, and they may also seek reports from the local police. If the police or any victims of crime are concerned about the possibility of a particular prisoner being allowed home leave, it is open to them to submit their observations to the governor, so that they can be included in his/her deliberations.