Parole Board publishes Business Plan for 2010/11

The Parole Board today published its Business Plan for 2010/11, setting out its aims, objectives, targets and projected workloads for the coming 12 months. The Plan details how the Board is managing a massive rise in the number of oral hearings needed for indeterminate sentence prisoners and is planning to clear a backlog of outstanding cases that has built up as the resource demands on it have increased.

Changes in legislation have led to a significant fall in the number of determinate sentence cases considered by the Board, with an increasingly complex hardcore of more serious and problematic offenders left in the system. The number of discretionary conditional release and extended sentence for public protection cases is projected to drop from 2,050 in 2009/10 to 1,014 in 2010/11.

The number of determinate sentence recalls referred to the Board and considered on paper is also projected to fall from 13,088 in 2009/10 to 12,620 in 2010/11.

However, most other areas of work are likely to increase with an ever increasing number of indeterminate sentence cases and those that have to be dealt with by oral hearings. The number of indeterminate sentence for public protection cases dealt with by oral hearing is projected to increase from 2,162 in 2009/10 to 2,559 in 2010/11. The number of lifer oral hearing reviews is also projected to increase from 2,002 to 2,192.

Sir David Latham, Chairman of the Parole Board, said:

"The significant lack of judicial resource was the single most important factor holding back the work of the Board 12 months ago. The severe shortage of judge time was crippling the ability of the Board to deal with the explosion in the number of oral hearings needed to consider lifer and IPP prisoners.

"Working closely with our colleagues in the Access to Justice Group of the Ministry of Justice, and the Senior Presiding Judge, we took a number of important steps towards easing the impediments to our judicial recruitment process. The result was that the Secretary of State was able to appoint 19 further judges to the Board in January and 36 in March. Doubling the number of judicial members available to us.

"The challenge for us over the next 12 months will be to train up an unprecedented number of new judges, integrate them into our hard-working existing membership body, and put them all to work to clear the backlog as soon as possible."  

Linda Lennon, Chief Executive of the Parole Board said:

"The targets contained in this Plan are set at a strategic level and include an overall target for timeliness in dealing with oral hearing cases. The benefit of a target that covers the whole parole process is that it incentivises us and all of our partner agencies to work together towards our mission of protecting the public.

"We have identified six overall priorities on which we intend to focus during the next year. These are:

• Reduce delays and the backlog of oral hearing cases
• Ensure good quality decisions by panels
• Embed practices which are understood and inspire confidence
• Demonstrate effective use of resources
• Improve skills, knowledge and leadership
• Manage the change to a future status

"This is a demanding set of objectives given the challenging nature of our current caseload. I know that I will be reliant upon the continued support of our staff and members to help the Board achieve those objectives over the next 12 months.

Caseload projections

Source
MOJ Analytical Services unless indicated otherwise
# Parole Board 10/11 budget

Notes to Editors

A full PDF copy of the Parole Board for England and Wales Business Plan 2010/11 is available.

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/01/2010

The Parole Board for England and Wales

Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX

Telephone 0845 251 2220