Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Well, I am a non-technician in this area, but it seems to me that one cannot ignore the conditions under which recall takes place and the criteria that have to be followed. I argue that in general that we have the right balance, although no doubt Members of the Committee will want to discuss that further. Perhaps I can explain the Government’s intent with the clauses and respond to a number of the points raised. The noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, has suggested in his amendments a proposal to refer to the Crown Court prisoners who have either been recalled for a fixed period, or who have been assessed by the Secretary of State as safe to re-release, to consider whether the offender is indeed safe to be re-released. One of our concerns, as the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan suggested, is that this would be a rather slow and cumbersome process. We do not believe that the unnecessary involvement of the courts would enhance public protection, but it would place a substantial burden on the court service. For instance, to give some indication of the scale of this burden, in 2007-08 the Parole Board conducted more than 16,000 recall reviews, which is a huge number. I understand that part of the motivation is to ensure that public protection is enhanced. Prisoners serving sentences for sexual or violent offences are already automatically precluded from being given a fixed-term recall. Further, under the proposed provisions, a fixed-term recall can be given only to offenders who are not assessed as presenting a risk of serious harm. The initial risk assessment will be conducted by the Probation Service, which is well placed to assess the level of risk presented by an offender. The Secretary of State will give careful consideration to any assessment showing that an offender presents a risk of serious harm. Such an assessment will have a significant influence in determining whether to recall for a fixed term. Here, as a general rule, the Secretary of State would not look to take an executive decision to re-release an offender serving a standard recall if that offender was assessed as potentially presenting a risk of harm. In that case, the prisoner would be referred to the Parole Board. The purpose of these re-release provisions is to ensure that recall is a proportionate, preventive measure and that recalled offenders who do not present a risk of harm are not held in custody any longer than is necessary to prevent further reoffending. They are also designed to reduce the burden on the Parole Board and Prison Service and will assist in achieving the Government’s stated objective to focus prison and Parole Board resources on the most dangerous offenders. The noble Lord’s Amendments Nos. 94 and 97 would remove the power to amend the period of time that an offender must serve before being automatically re-released if given a fixed-term recall, or the period that other recalled offenders must serve before the Secretary of State must refer their case to the Parole Board. These re-release provisions are self-evidently new, and we want to monitor them closely. If operational experience demonstrates that by amending the period offenders spend in custody we can enhance public protection or improve future compliance, then we need a mechanism for making the necessary adjustment. The amendment would deny us the opportunity to amend the number of days that an offender would serve on recall or would be required to wait before being referred to the Parole Board other than by amending the Act through primary legislation. The order-making power that the amendments seek to remove is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. The 28–day period cannot be changed without the approval of both Houses, which we believe provides a sufficient safeguard. Turning to Amendment No. 98, the Government recognise that recalling a life-sentence prisoner has potentially serious consequences—it could result in the offender spending the rest of his life in custody. However, the purpose of recall action is to enable the Secretary of State to take swift and preventive action in removing potentially very dangerous offenders from the community. It is a crucial means of protecting the public, but such action is not taken lightly. The test to be applied when considering recall is whether the offender presents an unacceptable risk to life or limb. Clearly that can happen at any time of the day or night, which I believe makes it impractical to involve the courts at that stage.