Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the parole system.

The Root and Branch Review of the Parole System was published on 30 March 2022 and set out a number of reforms to the parole system, some of which will require primary or secondary legislation. The review reaffirms the government’s intention, as part of our commitment to make the parole system more transparent, to allow for some parole hearings to be held in public; that requires a change to the Parole Board Rules which will be implemented via a Statutory Instrument later this year.

The review also made a number of commitments that will require primary legislation, namely: changes to the statutory release test to make clear public protection is the overriding consideration; new ministerial powers to oversee release decisions in the ‘top-tier’ cohort of the most serious parole cases; and mandating that Parole Board members with a law enforcement background sit on panels for these top-tier offenders. The necessary legislation will be brought forward as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows.

Other measures to strengthen the parole system, which do not require legislation, are already being implemented - such as the change we have announced to introduce, from 6 June, a tougher test and ministerial oversight when considering the most serious offenders for a move to open prison conditions.