§ Mr. GunnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his timetable for informing all prisoners serving life sentences of the minimum sentence they will serve; and by when he expects that all such prisoners who have already served five years of their sentence will have been so informed. [28796]
§ Miss WiddecombeArrangements have been made, following the House of Lords judgment in Doody and others in June 1993, for newly sentenced murderers to be informed of their tariff within nine weeks of receipt of any representations they make to my right hon. and learned Friend about the tariff recommendations made by the judiciary. The judicial recommendations are disclosed to these prisoners as soon as possible after conviction.
A special exercise was completed in December 1994 to disclose previously undisclosed tariff information to some 2,400 convicted murderers still in prison in England and Wales. Representations have been received in about 390 of these cases and 127 have been reconsidered and tariffs set afresh. The rest will be reconsidered as quickly as possible, priority being given to those whose existing tariffs are nearest to expiry.
The disclosure exercise included about 80 prisoners for whom no exact tariff had been set but who were told that their tariffs would be at least 20 years. Subject to receipt of representations, we expect to complete the setting of tariffs in these cases within the next six months.