§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders sentenced to life imprisonment have been granted an oral hearing before the parole board in the last five years. [75351]
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§ Mr. George HowarthThe readily available information, which relates to the number of oral hearings held by the Parole Board, is published in the Board's annual reports. The most recent report, for 1997–98, records the number of such hearings as:
Year Number 1993 265 1994 121 1995–96 216 1996–97 126 1997–98 278 These figures include some second and subsequent hearings for life sentenced prisoners who were not released following their first hearing