§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether victims in individual cases will have the right to challenge a governor's decision to release a prisoner on home leave or temporary release;
(2) how victims will be made aware of any prisoner's applications for either home leave, temporary leave or parole.
(3) what legal advice he took prior to announcing the fact that he is to allow victims to influence decisions on prisoners' home leave in England and Wales;
(4) what mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that the victims' helpline view is communicated to the governor in each case.
(5) where the victims' home leave helpline will be located; and how many staff will be allocated to it;
1218W(6) what plans he has to make the victims' home leave hotline a freephone;
(7) which individuals and organisations were consulted prior to his announcement of the victims' home leave helpline on 14 November;
(8) what was the total number of home leave and temporary leave applications in England and Wales during 1993; and how many were granted.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 19 December 1994]: Responsibility 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 Derek Lewis to Mr. George Howarth, dated 20 December 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the consultation with victims before decisions being taken about release on home leave and temporary licence and statistics on the number of applications made for such leave in 1993 and the number granted.The new helpline is located in Birmingham as a discrete part of the Prisoner Location Service and will be initially staffed by four members of staff. Details of the victim concerns will be conveyed to the Governor of the prison concerned using a standard form and the victim notified in writing that this has taken place. There are no plans to make the Helpline free of charge but the calls made using the main number are charged only at local rate.The introduction of the Victims' Helpline does not confer any new rights upon victims. The Helpline has been set up to enable victims to make their concerns known to the Prison Service by a more simple and direct means. There was therefore no need to seek fresh legal advice on the setting-up of the Victims' Helpline.The introduction of a Helpline evolved from discussions within the Home Office Standing Victim Steering Group which includes representatives from all the criminal justice agencies and voluntarily organisations who considered that there should be a facility for stopping unwanted communications from prisoners to victims of crime. Consultation on the operation of the Helpline will continue with the relevant agencies concerned.Current instructions on the consideration of home leave and temporary release applications already require governors to consider, where appropriate, consulting known victims or the police and probation services in order to establish known victim's concerns. It is already the case that the wishes of a victim who does not wish a prisoner to come back to the family home, where the offence was committed against a family member, must be respected and in these circumstances the application would be refused. In all other circumstances, the views of the victim will be taken fully into account, but it is for the governor in the light of all the known circumstances about the offender and the circumstances of the offence to decide whether home leave should be granted.Statistics on the number of applications made by prisoners for home leave and temporary release are not currently recorded. The number of prisoners who were granted unescorted absences in 1993 was 29,000.