§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average delay in processing parole dossiers at the first application stage for prisoners in England and Wales on the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [82448]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe parole timetable for determinate sentenced prisoners specifies that the review process should be complete, and the result notified to the prisoner, within 24 weeks of the scheduled start date for the review.
The table shows the percentage of first review cases meeting the target and the average delay in the cases that missed the target over the past four quarters.
Percentage of first review cases meeting 24 week target Average delay in first review cases missing 24 week target April 1998-June 1998 45.1 5.9 Weeks July 1998-September 1998 57.9 6.3 Weeks October 1998-December 1998 64.8 5.8 Weeks January 1999-March 1999 74.6 6.3 Weeks