The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.
News
20/04/2006
The Parole Board today responded to the statement by the Home Secretary on improving the way in which dangerous offenders are identified and managed by announcing the appointment of two distinguished external members to their Review Committee. This move will significantly strengthen the scrutiny of cases where prisoners released on licence have committed further serious offences to ensure that lessons are properly identified and acted upon.
Stephen Shaw, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive designate of the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA), have both accepted invitations to join the Parole Board Review Committee.
In 2003 the Parole Board set up a Review Committee to look into cases where prisoners on licence have been recalled to prison suspected of violent or sexual offences. The Committee reviews the decisions that have been taken by panel members and the handling of these cases to identify learning points, for both the Board and its partner agencies, to help prevent future similar further cases.
The Review Committee is already chaired by a High Court judge, who is also a member of the Parole Board. However, the Board is further strengthening the review process by including distinguished individuals from outside the membership of the Parole Board on the Committee to ensure an independent and external perspective.
Christine Glenn, Chief Executive of the Parole Board, welcomed the appointments saying:
"The work of the Review Committee has never been in more focus in the light of a number of recent high profile cases involving offenders who were out on licence. The most important objective of the Parole Board is to ensure that rigorous risk assessment procedures are in place to underpin our role in protecting the public. The Review Committee can help us to do this by identifying learning from such events, sharing that learning with partner agencies and applying the lessons to the way we handle cases in the future.
In order to sustain public confidence in our review process we need strong external members who can bring a different and independent perspective to the work of the Review Committee. I am delighted that Peter Neyroud and Stephen Shaw have both accepted our invitation to join the Committee and I know that they will add enormous value to what we are doing.
We also welcome the commitment made today by the Home Secretary to ensuring that the Parole Board has all the relevant information which we need to ensure that the decisions made by panel members are well founded. Full and accurate information, together with other measures that are planned, will go a long way towards ensuring that rigorous risk assessment procedures are in place to underpin the role of the Parole Board in protecting the public."
Stephen Shaw was appointed as the Prisons Ombudsman in October 1999. In September 2001 he became the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales following the setting up of the National Probation Service. The Ombudsman is responsible for investigating complaints from prisoners and those subject to probation and also for investigating all deaths of prisoners and residents of probation hostels and immigration detention accommodation. Mr Shaw has conducted a range of other official inquiries, including the major investigation into the riot and arson at Yarls Wood immigration centre in 2002.
Chief Constable Peter Neyroud was appointed Chief Executive designate of the NPIA in January 2006. The NPIA is being created to support self-improvement across the police service and drive forward national critical programmes detailed in the National Community Safety Plan. He was Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police from 2002 and Vice-President of ACPO and is a member of the Sentencing Guidelines Council.
In the two years since the Review Committee was set up, in January 2004, it has reviewed the decisions made in 129 cases, where prisoners have gone on to commit further serious offences, out of a total of around 17,000 decisions made on applications for release.
Notes to Editors
The Parole Board is the independent body that protects the public by making risk assessments about prisoners to decide who may safely be released into the community and who must remain in or be returned to custody. The Parole Board was established under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1967 to advise the Home Secretary on the early release of prisoners. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 established the Board as an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body.
The Parole Board's aims and objectives are linked closely with those of the Home Office in seeking to reduce re-offending and in protecting the public. The Board works closely with the Home Office, the Probation Service, the Prison Service, voluntary organisations, the legal profession and others involved in the criminal justice system.
For further information please call Tim Morris, Head of Communications for the Parole Board, on 020-7217 0564 during office hours, or on 07725-927954 out of hours, look on the Parole Board website at www.paroleboard.gov.uk , or e-mail tim.morris5@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
ENDS
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