Whilst crime is falling, sentences are getting more severe. Under this Government fewer individuals are entering the criminal justice system for the first time but those who do offend are more likely to go to prison, and for longer.

Prisoners serving life sentences, imprisonment for public protection, certain extended determinate sentences and some historical long determinate sentences of four years or more for a serious sexual or violent crime committed prior to 5 April 2005, and also certain offenders who have been recalled for breach of their licence conditions, are subject to discretionary release by the Parole Board. A prisoner serving a life sentence or a sentence of imprisonment for public protection must serve their minimum term in full before being eligible for consideration for release. A prisoner serving an extended determinate sentence of 10 years or more must serve at least two-thirds of their custodial term before being considered for release, and a prisoner serving an historical long determinate sentence must serve at least half of their custodial term before being eligible to come before the Parole Board.

All prisoners are subject to the same release test and they are only released (prior to any automatic release provisions which may apply in the case of determinate sentence prisoners) if the Parole Board is satisfied that it is safe to do so. Where an offender is turned down for parole his or her case is normally considered again after a period of two years in indeterminate sentence cases and one year for those serving determinate sentences.

Where an offender is released on licence but then commits a further offence and is recalled to prison, unless the prisoner is subject to a fixed term recall, he or she may serve the rest of their sentence in custody unless the Parole Board considers it safe to re-release the prisoner. Fixed term recalls are not available for offenders serving indeterminate or extended sentences. The sentence imposed for the further offence may also affect when the offender next becomes eligible to be considered for release. The seriousness of the further offence committed, the offender’s general behaviour on licence and their level of risk will, of course, be important factors which the Parole Board will take into account when considering re-release. Where a recalled offender is serving an indeterminate sentence it is possible that they will remain in prison for the rest of their life, and other offenders serving determinate sentences may remain in prison until the end of their custodial term, but it is important to review their progress regularly to determine whether or not the offender’s continued detention is necessary to protect the public.

The Government has no current plans to change the above arrangements.

Whilst crime is falling, sentences are getting more severe. Under this Government fewer individuals are entering the criminal justice system for the first time but those who do offend are more likely to go to prison, and for longer.

Prisoners serving life sentences, imprisonment for public protection, certain extended determinate sentences and some historical long determinate sentences of four years or more for a serious sexual or violent crime committed prior to 5 April 2005, and also certain offenders who have been recalled for breach of their licence conditions, are subject to discretionary release by the Parole Board. A prisoner serving a life sentence or a sentence of imprisonment for public protection must serve their minimum term in full before being eligible for consideration for release. A prisoner serving an extended determinate sentence of 10 years or more must serve at least two-thirds of their custodial term before being considered for release, and a prisoner serving an historical long determinate sentence must serve at least half of their custodial term before being eligible to come before the Parole Board.

All prisoners are subject to the same release test and they are only released (prior to any automatic release provisions which may apply in the case of determinate sentence prisoners) if the Parole Board is satisfied that it is safe to do so. Where an offender is turned down for parole his or her case is normally considered again after a period of two years in indeterminate sentence cases and one year for those serving determinate sentences.

Where an offender is released on licence but then commits a further offence and is recalled to prison, unless the prisoner is subject to a fixed term recall, he or she may serve the rest of their sentence in custody unless the Parole Board considers it safe to re-release the prisoner. Fixed term recalls are not available for offenders serving indeterminate or extended sentences. The sentence imposed for the further offence may also affect when the offender next becomes eligible to be considered for release. The seriousness of the further offence committed, the offender’s general behaviour on licence and their level of risk will, of course, be important factors which the Parole Board will take into account when considering re-release. Where a recalled offender is serving an indeterminate sentence it is possible that they will remain in prison for the rest of their life, and other offenders serving determinate sentences may remain in prison until the end of their custodial term, but it is important to review their progress regularly to determine whether or not the offender’s continued detention is necessary to protect the public.

The Government has no current plans to change the above arrangements.

The victim personal statement (VPS) was introduced in 2007, and provides victims with a valuable opportunity to tell the Parole Board how the prisoner’s offence has affected them or their family and what the impact of the prisoner’s release will be on them.

Victims can submit a VPS in writing, or they can apply to the Parole Board to read it in person, with the presumption that the Parole Board will agree to this. The right to make a VPS to the Parole Board, and to apply to read it in person, was enshrined in the new Victims Code which was implemented in December 2013.

The National Offender Management Service is committed to ensuring that victims are provided with support and information to help them decide whether they wish to make a VPS to the Parole Board.

The National Offender Management Service does not record information centrally in relation to the number of victims who make a VPS, and has not made an estimate of this number. The Government has made a commitment to monitor criminal justice agencies’ compliance with the Victims’ Code and in “Our Commitment to Victims,” published on 15 September 2014, we announced that criminal justice agencies will publish information on how they have improved services for victims from April 2015.

All those due to be released on licence must have explained to them the conditions of their licence, what they are required to do upon release, and the implications of non-compliance. This is explained by a member of the prison staff prior to release, with the offender asked to sign their licence to confirm that they have understood this. It is explained again following release, by their supervising officer from the probation service responsible for managing their licence. These requirements are set out clearly in Prison Service Instruction 18/2014, and Probation Instruction 11/2014.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice has produced an ‘easy read’ guide to licences to enable staff to explain the licence conditions to those who have learning disabilities in as clear a way as possible. These documents contain simple text and illustrations to help the understanding of an offender who may otherwise have difficulty comprehending the requirements made of them on release.

All offenders released from custody on licence are subject to six standard conditions. There are no exceptions. The standard licence conditions include requirements to keep in touch with their supervising officer, to seek permission prior to obtaining employment or moving address, and restrictions on travel outside the UK.

It is also possible for additional conditions or restrictions to be placed upon the licence - for example, to prevent the offender in question from contacting a previous victim, or from visiting certain locations or premises. Any additional condition must be justified as being necessary for the effective management of the offender in question, as well as being proportionate to the risk the offender poses.

The process for requesting and approving any additional conditions is the same for all offenders released on licence, so that the supervising officer may have specific regard to any offender with learning disabilities. If the supervising officer who manages the case considers that additional conditions are necessary and proportionate, they must request these of the Governing Governor of the releasing prison, or the Parole Board, whoever has responsibility for release in that case. The decision on whether to include such conditions rests with that authority.

The Parole Board is an independent body with the statutory power to direct the release of recalled prisoners, indeterminate sentence prisoners whose tariff has expired and those determinate sentence prisoners who are subject to discretionary release arrangements.

Once the Parole Board has directed release, the Secretary of State must give effect to the direction. Exceptionally, the Secretary of State can apply to the High Court to have a Parole Board release direction quashed if he considered it to be irrational although to date he has not sought to do so.

The volume of Indeterminate Sentence Prisoners (ISP) cases to be reviewed on the dates requested is set out in the table below save that the figure for 1 July 2014 is not yet available:

The Parole Board is committed to working in an effective and efficient manner in order to reduce the backlog of outstanding cases. The Board is developing a new operating model in order to respond to the requirement to hold an increased number of oral hearings following the Supreme Court judgment in Osborn, Booth and Reilly. To support this work, we have increased the Parole Board’s resource allocation from £10.85m in 2013/14 to £13.8m in 2014/15.