Management Board Briefing
Key points from the Management Board Briefing held on the 30th October 2008
Reasons Template
An early draft of the reasons template had gone to the Procedural Guidance Committee for comment and it was to be piloted by a number of oral hearing panels. It would be submitted to the next Management Board meeting for final approval before coming fully into operation from 1.1.09 which was an undertaking given to the PAC.
Mobile phone incident
A letter had been written to the prison Governor about the decision to call the police when a member of the Boards staff inadvertently carried a mobile phone into a prison. An apology was received which recognised that there had been an over reaction.
Future status of the Parole Board
The first meeting of the Working Group looking at the future status of the Parole Board took place on 21.10.08 at the Ministry of Justice. The initial view was that the Board should become either a court or a tribunal rather than remain as a NDPB. If that view was upheld, primary legislation would be necessary and it would therefore be unlikely that any change could take place before 2010. Further meetings were planned and it was also proposed that a member of the judiciary should join the Working Group in due course.
Sponsorship arrangements
The sponsor unit had introduced new arrangements for monitoring the Parole Board which involved regular reports on progress and quarterly meetings. The first quarterly meeting took place on 29.10.08 and had been more challenging than those held with the previous sponsor. A detailed analysis had been carried out on each of the Boards Business Plan targets. The view taken by the sponsor was that in future the Business Plan should contain fewer operational targets and concentrate on overall objectives.
Judge time
It was reported that the sponsor unit had negotiated with the circuits for the Boards serving judicial members to work an additional 55 days on hearings. This had been a great help but there was still a shortage of judges to hear all the cases that were outstanding. The position was unlikely to improve significantly even when the new Parole Board Rules were introduced as the number of cases that required oral hearing was forecast to continue rising. The sponsor was aware of the position and would try to secure further judge time. There was also a new recruitment round that would commence in January/ February 2009. The possibility of judges working full-time for the Parole Board was raised at the PAC and was seen as a possible option.
Parole Board Rules
The MoJ had decided that a period of consultation was necessary before the revised Parole Board Rules could be laid before Parliament. It was confirmed that IPP cases, like lifers, were included as they fell within the specific parts of the legislation covered by the Rules. This meant that the flexibility for determining the size of panels applied to both. However, single member Smith and West panels were not covered as they came under different legislation which was not included in the proposed amendments. Nevertheless, it was argued that the Boards arrangements were not unlawful as they were in the same position as DCR cases where there was no statutory requirement for the number of members on a panel. There was frustration that the question of Smith and West cases had still not been addressed after more than three years. It was agreed that the draft Rules should be circulated to members so that they had the opportunity to comment. The Board would submit a formal response to the consultation exercise.
Public Accounts Committee
Chris Glenn confirmed that she appeared before the PAC on 27.10.08 with Peter Handcock, Director General, Access to Justice Group and Phil Wheatley, Chief Executive, NOMS. She said that the Committee members were clearly concerned about delays in the system and the impact that this was having both financially and in terms of the prison population. She said that she pointed out to the Committee that all judges were doing at least their minimum sittings but more were needed; that members fees were significantly lower than comparable work elsewhere and that many dossiers were either late or incomplete. At the end the hearing, the Chairman of the Committee, Edward Leigh MP called for the Parole Board to be given a better service in terms of the provision of information so that prisoners cases could be heard on time and he asked to see what progress had been made in a years time.
Generic Parole Process
A high level monitoring board had been set up by the MoJ to take forward the new process. The aim was to introduce a whole system target for considering cases by 1.4.09 in order to meet one of the recommendations in the NAO report. A key part of the process was not just meeting deadlines but also in providing quality reports in order that panels were able to make informed decisions on risk. Training was therefore vital to ensure that providers of reports understood the minimum requirements of the Parole Board. Reservations were expressed that NOMS would be able to provide all the information required in view of the level of cuts they were facing.
Equality Action Plan
The meeting welcomed the initiative to update and strengthen the Boards policy on equality and diversity. The action plan was approved subject to some minor amendments. Linda McHugh agreed to be the Diversity Champion and looked forward to being involved in taking forward the action plan and reporting back to the Management Board in due course.
Investigation of reduction in parole release rates
It was explained that the NAO had stated in their report that the reduction in release rates raised concerns about the consistency of the Boards decisions. She had been in consultation with MoJ Analytical Services (formerly RDS) in an effort to see whether any research was possible that would produce robust reasons for the fall in the release rates. However, it was clear that a substantial amount of money would be necessary to carry out any meaningful research on determinate sentence prisoners and as these types of cases were on the decrease, she felt the expense could not be justified. It was also pointed out that it would not be comparing like with like as the determinate sentence cases the Board was now dealing with were prisoners serving longer prison sentences. In the future information on indeterminate sentence prisoners would be obtained from the Lifer Database. Concern was expressed about doing no research at all and it was agreed to consider the issue further.
Lightweight laptops
It was explained that there was currently no policy on the issue of lightweight laptops. However, as they were more expensive than the ones normally issued to members it was considered appropriate that a policy should be in place. After discussion it was agreed that if a member could identify a specific medical or business need for a lightweight laptop it should be provided. The meeting also approved the process whereby members should apply to the Head of Finance and would have the right of appeal to the Chief Executive if the application was turned down.
Annual Conference
The meeting considered the proposal to extend the Annual Conference in Blackpool by an extra day instead of having the Spring Development Day. Merit was seen in the proposal providing it was well planned. It was agreed to consult members before taking a final decision.
Regional panels
A question was raised about the status of regional panels as there had been previous discussions about whether they should continue. It was pointed out that an evaluation was taking place to decide whether to continue with regional panels but with the reduction in the number of DCR cases, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to arrange them and there was also a danger that such panels would be seen as ring fencing work for those members who sat on them.
Performance
It was reported that September had been a good month with most operational targets met or exceeded. For the first time the performance for sending out dossiers to members was on target and deferrals on the day were down to 11%. Concern was raised about the number of late referrals from the MoJ which was adding to the workload. The meeting noted that the Oral Hearings Team were in the process of being reorganised which could impact on the October performance but should in the longer term improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Supplementary Bid 2008/09
The accounts showed that expenditure for the first six months of 2008/09 was £145k over budget and the forecast was for a deficit of £402k at the end of the financial year. A considerable amount of work had been carried out on the forecast since the last Management Board meeting on 23.9.08 and Linda McHugh was thanked for her help. It was agreed that the request for an additional £402k grant-in-aid should be submitted to the sponsor.
Budget Bid 2009/10
It was reported that the MoJ had been directed to prepare grant-in-aid allocations on the basis of last years allocation less 2%. The sponsor had stressed that the Board needed to justify requests for increased funds. Preparation of the Boards bid was continuing and would include the increase in members fees proposed in the consultants report. The final bid would be e-mailed to the Management Board for approval.
Judicial Reviews
The monthly report showed that there were 62 live cases in September. In one of them the lack of sanction for attendance of witnesses at oral hearings was being challenged. A ruling on this issue would be welcomed. It was reported that the new Prison Lawyers organisation had been set up and it was hoped that this would help in achieving consistency in the advice given to prisoners as well as a clearer focus for communicating with these stakeholders. A useful meeting had already taken place with officers of the new organisation.
Member Recruitment
All categories of members would be included in the 2009 recruitment round which would commence with adverts in January/February 2009. The Operation Black Vote initiative was continuing with arrangements being made for 25 prospective candidates to observe paper panels and oral hearings.
Health and Safety
One person was trapped in one of the lifts at Grenadier House for 40 minutes before being freed by the fire brigade. Another member of staff had been in the same lift a few days later when it dropped one floor before juddering to a stop. Both incidents were reported immediately to the facilities management for the building. Following the second incident the lift was taken out of service pending further inspection.
Counselling
In relation to the provision of counselling for members and staff which had been raised at the meeting on 29.5.08, it was reported that a service was available through the Ministry of Justice and further information would be provided at the next meeting. A stress management course was being arranged for staff and it was agreed that this could be extended to members.
Investors in People
A staff Away Day took place on 3.10.08 at Barnett Hill in Guildford and involved a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities. The keynote speaker was Sir Trevor Brooking from the Football Association and he drew on his experiences of being a team member and his work as Chairman of the Trustees of the Butler Trust. It was a good opportunity for team building and everyone appeared to enjoy the day.
Stakeholder Engagement Strategy
The meeting was provided an audit of the current position relating to engagement with external stakeholders and set out proposals for the future. The importance of having a two-way dialogue with stakeholders so that they were made aware of what the Board wanted from them was emphasised. It was pointed out that there were a number of probation members on the Board and they could therefore help on a regional basis by making contact with Directors of Offender Management (DOMs). The previous attempt to promote stakeholder engagement regionally had fallen when funding was withdrawn for Parole Board liaison members. It was, however, recognised that there were several initiatives already taking place such as visits to YJB and probation areas and speaking at events such as the Prisoners Maintaining Innocence conference. The meeting approved the plan subject to the comments that were made.
Staff and Member survey
In relation to the staff and member engagement survey, a Steering Group which included staff and members had decided on 80 questions aimed at identifying any concerns or thoughts about a variety of issues that they may be faced while working for the Parole Board. The survey would take place between 7 and 28.11.08.
Royal visit
It was reported that the Countess of Wessex had indicated that she wished to visit the Parole Board and it was likely that this would take place in January/February 2009.
The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.