Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making prisoners ineligible for parole until after they have served their minimum term in prison.

Prisoners may only be considered for release by the Parole Board once their minimum term has been served; this is known as the parole eligibility date (or tariff expiry date for indeterminate sentences). This statutory safeguard guarantees that no prisoner will be released prior to serving the minimum period of custody established by the court. Release before this point is not permitted under legislation other than the Secretary of State’s overriding power to release any prisoner early on compassionate grounds, which is rarely used.

The recent Independent Sentencing Review proposed a progression model that would allow certain offenders, namely those serving extended determinate sentences, to earn earlier consideration for release based on behaviour and rehabilitation. However, this recommendation was rejected because we do not think it would be right to allow prisoners who have been deemed dangerous by the courts to have their parole eligibility date brought forward.