Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of Parole Board decisions on (a) moving prisoners to open conditions, and (b) releasing prisoners were overruled by the Government in each of the last (i) 12 months, and (ii) 5 years.

The transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions is a categorisation decision for the Secretary of State. However, historically, before approving transfer the Secretary of State has sought the advice of the Parole Board. Even where the Parole Board recommends that a prisoner is suitable for open conditions, the Secretary of State has a discretion as to whether to accept the recommendation. Pursuant to the practice of seeking the Parole Board’s advice, the Secretary of State has published a policy to indicate where s/he will be likely to accept the Board’s recommendation.

Up until June 2022, the HM Prison & Probation Service Policy Framework stipulated that the Secretary of State (or an official with delegated responsibility) would accept a recommendation from the Parole Board except where:

• the panel’s recommendation goes against the clear recommendation of report writers without providing a sufficient explanation as to why; or
• the panel’s recommendation is based on inaccurate information.

The Policy Framework stated that the Secretary of State might also reject a Parole Board recommendation if it is considered that there is not a wholly persuasive case for transferring the prisoner to open conditions at this time.

For the period June 2022 to July 2023, the Policy Framework stipulated that the Secretary of State (or an official with delegated responsibility) would accept a recommendation from the Parole Board only where:

• the prisoner is assessed as low risk of abscond; and
• a period in open conditions is considered essential to inform future decisions about release and to prepare for possible release on licence into the community; and
• a transfer to open conditions would not undermine public confidence in the Criminal Justice System.

The Policy Framework and associated guidance were updated on 17 July and has been applied to all outstanding Parole Board recommendations at that date and all recommendations received after that date. Under the terms of the Policy, the Secretary of State (or an official with delegated responsibility) will accept a recommendation from the Parole Board (to approve an ISP for open conditions) only where:

• the prisoner has made sufficient progress during the sentence in addressing and reducing risk to a level consistent with protecting the public from harm (in circumstances where the prisoner in open conditions may be in the community, unsupervised under licensed temporary release); and
• the prisoner is assessed as low risk of abscond; and
• there is a wholly persuasive case for transferring the ISP to open conditions.

Below is a breakdown of how many times the Secretary of State for Justice has accepted and not accepted the Parole Board’s recommendation to move prisoners to open conditions in the last five calendar years

There is no current power for the Government to overrule a Parole Board release decision. The Lord Chancellor has decided to proceed with implementation of the referral power in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which will give the Secretary of State the ability to directly refer certain Parole Board decisions in ‘top tier’ cases to the High Court for a second look. ‘Top tier’ cases include certain offenders convicted of murder, rape, terrorism, or terrorism connected offences, or causing or allowing the death of a child. This power will create a new role for the High Court to conduct risk assessments and hearings along similar lines to the Parole Board, to decide whether the statutory test for release has been met in the cases referred to it.