The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.
News
20/07/2009
The Parole Board today published its Business Plan for 2009/10, setting out its aims, objectives, targets and projected workloads for the coming 12 months. The Plan details how the Board will manage the changing nature of its work as it faces an increased workload and a consultation over the future of the Board itself.
Changes in legislation have led to a significant fall in the number of determinate sentence cases considered by the Board, with further reductions also projected for next year taking the total for DCR/EPP cases from 3,917 in 2008/09 to 2,050 in 2009/10. The number of determinate sentence recalls referred to the Board and considered on paper has also fallen and is projected to fall still further from 17,184 in 2008/09 to 13,088 in 2009/10.
However, most other areas of work are likely to increase with legislative changes and judicial review decisions leading to an ever increasing number of indeterminate sentence cases and those that have to be dealt with by oral hearings. The number of indeterminate IPP sentences dealt with by oral hearing is projected to increase from 704 in 2008/09 to 2,162 in 2009/10. The number of lifer oral hearing reviews is also projected to increase from 1,382 to 2,002.
Sir David Latham, Chairman of the Parole Board, said:
"Many challenges lie ahead of us during the next year. Not least of which is the significant lack of judicial resources available to the Board. This shortage of judge time severely limits the number of oral hearings cases that we can handle and addressing the issue will be one of my top priorities.
"The organisation and constitutional independence of the Parole Board needs to be at the heart of the future arrangements in the face of ongoing changes in workload, legislation and case law."
Linda Lennon, Chief Executive of the Parole Board said:
"Last year there was a record number of oral hearings which continues the trend away from paper hearings towards the more resource intensive oral hearings. This is largely due to changes in the law and the expanding population of indeterminate sentence prisoners.
"Changes to the Parole Board Rules will assist in that we are no longer under an obligation to accede to every request for an oral hearing. The rules allow for independent members to chair panels for indeterminate prisoners and we are embarking on programmes to train independent members to do so.
"The introduction of a Generic Parole Process, which brings together all agencies involved in parole reviews for indeterminate prisoners, will also assist in the Boards ability to deal with cases on time by providing members with timely, quality information."
Caseload actual 2008/09
DCR/EPP - 3,917
Deportees - 138
Lifer/IPP first reviews, ICM and advice cases on papers only - 3,519
ESP annual reviews on papers only - 77
Lifer reviews - 1,382
IPP reviews - 704
Juvenile hearings (oral) - 79
Lifer/IPP recall oral hearings - 125
ESP recall oral hearings - 385
Determinate recalls (paper) - 17,184
Determinate recalls (oral) - 422
Determinate recall sift (paper) - 664
Caseload projections 2009/10
DCR/EPP - 2,050
Deportees - 220
Lifer/IPP first reviews, ICM and advice cases on papers only - 4,202
ESP annual reviews on papers only - 180
Lifer reviews - 2,002
IPP reviews - 2,162
Juvenile hearings (oral) - 130
Lifer/IPP recall oral hearings - 150
ESP recall oral hearings - 338
Determinate recalls (paper) - 13,088
Determinate recalls (oral) - 563
Determinate recall sift (paper) - 1,200
A full copy of the Parole Board for England and Wales Business Plan 2009/10 is available on the Parole Board website.
The Parole Board is an independent body that works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by risk assessing prisoners to decide whether they can safely be released into the community.
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@paroleboard.gsi.gov.uk
ENDS PR/03/2009
Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX
Telephone 0845 251 2220