The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.
About the Parole Board
The Annual Conference, held at the Latimer Place Conference Centre in Hertfordshire, is attended by the newly appointed and first ever Secretary of State for Justice, Lord Falconer. He welcomes the Parole
Board to the new Ministry of Justice.
The Annual Lecture, held jointly with the Conference, is delivered by campaigner and journalist Bob Woffinden and is a provocative discourse on the subject of miscarriages of justice.
A full day workshop is held with Chief Probation Officers at Grenadier House, hosted jointly by the Board and NOMS. A real sense of working together to solve shared problems is in evidence from participants.
The Ministry of Justice publishes a penal policy paper proposing, amongst other things, the introduction of fixed term recalls for 28 days for non-dangerous prisoners. This new approach may reduce the number of recalls that the Board deals with.
Mr Justice Collins in the Queens Bench Division finds against the Board in the case of Cooper a 'delay' case where the Boards 55 day target for hearing lifer recall cases was criticised. The Court
decides that while the definition of 'speedy' will vary from case to case depending on the circumstances in the majority, 55 days is unlikely to be warranted.
The Court of Appeal confirms, in the case of Johnson that Article 5(4) is engaged at the half way stage of a Determinate Sentence for those sentenced under the discretionary conditional release scheme, at least in so far as timeliness of the parole review is concerned.
For the first time panels consider Determinate Sentence deport cases following the decision by the SofS to refer such cases to the Board in the light of the Hindawi judgment.
The Board uses its own video conferencing facilities at Grenadier House for the first time. The prisoner joins the oral hearing by video link from HMP Doncaster and the Secretary of States representative from a magistrates court.
The Board receives the sad news of the death of Sir David Hatch CBE, Chairman of the Parole Board from 2000 to 2004. The Board decides to rename the Annual Lecture the Sir David Hatch Memorial Lecture in tribute.
The Chief Executive, Christine Glenn, gives evidence on behalf of the Board to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. The evidence focuses on the subject of sentencing policy and impact of
Indeterminate Sentences for public protection on the work of the Board.
On the same day the Chairman, Sir Duncan Nichol, speaks to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs about the work of the Board. He concentrates on the Boards constitutional position, release and recall rates and deferrals.
Induction training takes place at the Ashridge Conference Centre for the 28 new members appointed to the Board in July 2007. The intensive training programme includes a mixture ofmock panels and oral hearings, with speakers on subjects such as offending behaviour programmes and specialist risk assessment.
The Court of Appeal confirms, in the case of Gulliver, that when dealing with a licensee recalled to prison, the Board is not restricted to considering the circumstances that led to the Secretary of States
decision to revoke the licence. The Board is entitled to consider other matters and may look at the wider issue of risk of further offending.
The Board holds its first ever Desktop Exercise to test its new Business Continuity Plan. The exercise tests what the Board would do if Grenadier House were to be put out of action by a catastrophic event. The answer is to temporarily relocate to Croydon.
The issue of the independence of the Board is brought to a head by a judgment in the High Court in the case of Brooke and others. The Court rules that the present arrangements for the Board do
not sufficiently demonstrate its independence of the Secretary of State as required by common law and the ECHR. The Ministry of Justice appeals against the decision.
This year saw the introduction of the facility for victims or their families to appear at Parole Board oral hearings in order to deliver victim personal statements to the panel. The first ever delivery of
such a victim personal statement, by the mother of a 15-year-old murder victim, takes place at HMP Lindholme.
The Boards Annual Report is published showing a marked decrease in the release rate for both lifer and DCR prisoners. The release rate for lifers fell from 23% to 15% and the release rate for DCR
prisoners fell from 49.4% to 35.8% in 2006/07.
The Management Board agrees a joint project with Operation Black Vote to develop a civic leadership programme which aims to encourage more black and minority ethnic members to join the Board.
The Court of Appeal decides that it need not make a ruling in the case of extended sentence for public protection prisoner OConnell, who is claiming that the test for release should be one of serious harm, similar to the life and limb test applicable to lifer cases, since the panel that refused early release had applied such a test anyway. The case is heading to the House of Lords after an appeal by the
Secretary of State.
The inaugural Sir David Hatch Memorial Lecture takes place at One Whitehall Place, with the new Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, as the speaker. Jack Straw pledges to ensure that the Board continues to be free and able to make unfettered decisions on individual cases.
The new Intensive Case Management system is now in full operation and January is the first month in which the majority of cases are being heard through the ICM process. The new early sift and directions process aims to ensure that panels are provided with all the information that they need at the right time.
The Board hosts a joint seminar at Grenadier House with Bruce Kent from Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence on the subject of prisoners who maintain their innocence. Dr Michael Naughton
also addresses the seminar and there is a real meeting of minds on many of the issues surrounding this difficult subject.
The Court of Appeal rejects the Secretary of States appeal in the case of Brooke and others. The Lord Chief Justice says that the High Courts findings on the Boards lack of independence, both actual
and perceived, were justified. The Ministry of Justice decides not to appeal further. The same Court of Appeal also rejects the SofSs appeal in the case of Walker and James, two tariff expired prisoners serving IPP sentences.
They successfully claimed that where the SofS had failed to provide them with courses to enable them to demonstrate to the Board that the risk they presented to the public was acceptable for release then
continued detention was unlawful.
The Board successfully sought a ruling from the Court of Appeal that any such decision about unlawfulness of detention would not impinge on the statutory duty not to direct release unless satisfied that the risk to the public is sufficiently reduced.
The newly redesigned Parole Board website goes live after a special preview for Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, who is very enthusiastic about it. The new site racks up a 49% increase in hits in its first
month and a 127% increase in page views.
The National Audit Office publishes its report into the work of the Parole Board. The report expresses concern about the quality and timeliness of dossiers provided to the Board and calls for a service
wide target to be set by the Ministry of Justice.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Maria Eagle MP, who has responsibility for prisons, probation and sentencing policy, visits Grenadier House. The Minister meets Chief Executive Christine
Glenn and other staff and sits in on a DCR paper panel.
The Board completed the fast track training of independent members to undertake oral hearings.
Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX
Telephone 0845 251 2220