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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for tabling the amendments. These are important matters and they allow us to debate the provisions of the Bill relating to the release and recall of prisoners. Amendments Nos. 5, 7 and 8, amending Clause 28, have the effect that, where recalled determinate-sentence prisoners have been assessed by the Secretary of State as safe to re-release, there would be a requirement for their cases to be referred to the Crown Court so that the court could review that decision. Our main concern at this proposal is that it would place a substantial added burden on the Courts Service. To give some indication of the scale of this burden, in 2007-08 the Parole Board conducted over 14,000 recall reviews. We are also of the opinion that the process for dealing with such referrals would be slow and bureaucratic. Prior to 1999, all recalls in respect of prisoners serving less than four years had to be pursued through the courts. It was a more complex process which was rarely used, but it was one of the reasons why we extended executive recall provisions in the first place. We are not convinced that the proposal would enhance public protection in any significant way. I remind the House that prisoners serving sentences for sexual or violent offences are automatically precluded from being given a fixed-term or 28-day recall. Those serving sentences for offences other than sex or violence can be given a fixed-term recall only if they are assessed as not presenting a risk of serious harm. I also remind the House that all recalled prisoners have a right to have the recall decision reviewed by the independent Parole Board, thus providing offenders with a means of redress. Our recall provisions are designed, frankly, to reduce the burden on the Parole Board and on the Prison Service and will assist in achieving our objective to focus prison and the Parole Board’s resources on the most dangerous offenders. We have carefully considered the noble Lord’s amendments but I am afraid we cannot accept them. Amendment No. 10 seeks to amend Clause 30 in respect of the recall of life and indeterminate-sentence prisoners. I can assure the House that we recognise that recalling a life-sentence prisoner has potentially serious consequences. It could result in the offender spending the rest of his or her life in custody. That is why such decisions are not taken lightly and why all such decisions are subject to review by the Parole Board. Amendment No. 10 requires all recalls of life or indeterminate-sentence prisoners to have the approval of a judge. We fear that this amendment would build a potential source of delay in the recall process, during which further serious crime could, unfortunately, be committed. The purpose of recall action is to enable the Secretary of State to take swift and preventive action in removing potentially dangerous offenders from the community. We think it is a crucial means of public protection. The current provisions for the recall of a life-sentence prisoner—this is an important issue but I shall be as quick as I can—are to be found in Section 32 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. That section provides two routes for recall. Section 32(1) enables the Secretary of State to recall, having first consulted the Parole Board and received a positive recommendation. But Section 32(2) enables the Secretary of State to recall a life-sentence prisoner without prior consultation with the board where it is, "““expedient in the public interest to recall that person before such a recommendation is practicable””." The clear inference of the statute as it now stands is that in the majority of cases a lifer recall will be pursued through the Section 32(1) route—the Parole Board route—and that the Secretary of State will recall a lifer without prior consultation with the Parole Board only where such consultation is not possible in an individual case. The House will know that for life-sentence prisoners released into the community on life licence, the threshold for recall is high. An increased risk of reoffending by itself is not sufficient to warrant recalling them to prison. The Secretary of State must be satisfied that the prisoner presents an unacceptable risk to life and limb. To warrant a life or indeterminate sentence it follows that a prisoner will have been convicted of the most serious sexual or violent offences. When their conduct has deteriorated to such a degree that they are assessed as presenting an unacceptable risk to life or limb, it is invariably in the interests of public protection that the recall process facilitates their swift removal from the community. In practice therefore, nearly all recalls are effected administratively as we speak. We accept that there is no limit on the number of cases that may be decided under the public expediency recall procedure—that is, Section 32(2), which gives the Secretary of State his powers. However, the spirit of the legislation leans towards the primary mechanism for deciding to recall a lifer through a Parole Board recommendation. But in the period from October 2002 to March 2007 more than 80 per cent of decisions to recall lifers were made without a Parole Board recommendation. I can reassure the House that those decisions have been entirely correct in law on the basis that it was expedient in the public interest for the Secretary of State to exercise his power of executive recall without consulting the Parole Board. Nevertheless, we are concerned to ensure that the statutory framework reflects current operational practice, and that the operational practice could not be seen as undermining Parliament’s intention. For that reason, Clause 30 places our current operational practice on a firm statutory footing. We also recognise that it is critical that there are strong and effective safeguards in place to ensure that the decision taken by the executive is open to challenge by the offender, and even if not challenged, is open to robust scrutiny by an independent body. That is what the review by the Parole Board achieves. The Parole Board will invariably have an oral hearing to consider the representations of life-sentence prisoners. Such hearings are normally chaired by a judicial member. The prisoner is entitled to be present, legally represented, and to call witnesses. The board has the power to direct the prisoner’s immediate re-release if it is satisfied that it is safe to do so. This is a question of balance and we recognise that it is important to strike the right one between being able to take swift, preventive action to protect the public on the one hand, and ensuring that such decisions are subject to robust scrutiny. That is why we believe that putting Clause 30 into the Bill is the appropriate measure to achieve that balance. I can be shorter and more helpful to the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, on his two remaining Amendments Nos. 6 and 9. They would remove the power to amend the period of time an offender must serve before being automatically re-released if given a fixed-term recall or the period other recalled offenders must serve before the Secretary of State must refer their case to the Parole Board. Having given careful consideration to these amendments, and expressing our gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, in particular, and having listened to other noble Lords in debate, we are prepared to accept those two amendments. We will need to bring forward a consequential amendment when the Bill returns to another place.