Summary
The Parole Board (the Board), a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, is responsible for deciding whether an offender is suitable for release from custody on parole. The Board's workload of cases to assess has more than doubled in a five year period.
The balance has also shifted from more straightforward paper based hearings to more resource intensive oral hearings, where the offender attends and is questioned. This increase in workload stems from the rising prison population and new sentencing regimes.
In this Report, 'Protecting the Public: The Work of the Parole Board' (HC 251), the Public Accounts Committee sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, which include:
- The Board's administrative performance is undermined by a lack of capacity to hear cases and it often does not receive the key information required to make an assessment on serious offenders.
- The Prison and probation services have been unable to provide the timely and complete information necessary for the efficient and effective running of the parole process.
- There are further problems with the oral hearings: two-thirds of oral hearings have not been held in their planned month and 20% of hearings have been held more than 12 months late.
- These delays are unacceptable and costly: direct costs of £1 million in 2007-08 and nearly £2 million costs to the Prison Service in keeping offenders who should have been released or transferred to open conditions.
- These costs are significant when set against the Board's net expenditure in 2007-08 of £7.4 million and the Board needs to administer hearings more effectively.
- The Board should also be more independent and its membership more accurately reflect the composition of society.
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