§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department first became aware of the difficulties of calculating remissions for convicted prisoners originally held on remand. [3825]
§ Mr. Howard[holding answer 14 November 1996]: On four occasions since 1982, the courts upheld the Prison Service's approach to the complex sentence calculations required by section 67 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
The Prison Service proposed in July 1995 that work be undertaken to develop a simpler system of sentence calculation. That work led to the new arrangements for determining the effect on release dates of time spent on remand contained in the Crime (Sentences) Bill. This provides that in all cases the judge will determine, when passing sentence, how much remand time will count against the sentence.