My Lords, at the request of my noble friend Lord Marks, I will speak to his amendment in this group, which is Amendment 171B about the hearing timeframes for the Parole Board to have some flexibility in this matter. I apologise; I would have said, in relation to the two stand part notices, that there were a number of questions that I asked of the noble Earl. I know it has been only a short period of time—I am sure they are on their way—but I just wanted to remind him. I am sure that his smile tells me that there are going to be satisfactory replies shortly.
I come back to Amendment 171B. The current rules are that the release of prisoners serving a life sentence is determined by the Parole Board on or after they have served their minimum tariff. The first parole review to consider a prisoner for release will usually begin six months prior to their tariff expiry and, if a prisoner is not released at their on-tariff review, they will have a further post-tariff review at least every two years. The Parole Board process is lengthy and can take upwards of six months for the whole process to be dealt with. Their victims are asked whether they wish to submit a personal statement; although the Parole Board does not have direct contact with victims, the victim liaison officer will contact them about submitting a personal statement. We know that there has recently been an opportunity for victims to appear and observe some Parole Board hearings as part of the latest pilot.
For victims and family members, going through the Parole Board process can be a highly traumatic experience, forcing them to relive the original offence and the impact it has on them. While victims and families welcome having a voice in the process through being able to submit an impact statement, many feel trapped and unable to move on when their offender is repeatedly coming up for parole, even when it is clear that the circumstances have not changed.
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The current system is a drain not only on victims and family members but on the Parole Board itself. The time and financial cost of parole hearings are significant. John Worboys, for example, received more than £166,000 in legal aid following his arrest, paying for legal representation at Parole Board hearings. The average cost of an oral Parole Board hearing, according to the Parole Board’s annual report, is £1,876.
The requirement for the Parole Board to hear cases at least every two years, even when aware that there are no material changes to a prisoner’s circumstances—crucially, of course, to the risk faced by the public if they were to be released—means that prisoners are arbitrarily brought before the Parole Board at great expense. This amendment aims to give the Parole Board the discretion to set the period until a prisoner can reapply for parole, meaning that families will be spared being repeatedly dragged into the process when it is clear that nothing has changed. This approach is adopted in other jurisdictions internationally, such as California, where the parole board is able to direct that a subsequent parole hearing be deferred—in its case, it can defer for up to 15 years; I am not suggesting that that is part of this amendment.
The amendment does not seek to take away an offender’s rights. It would introduce a mechanism through which the offender could request that a Parole Board’s decision to defer a hearing by more than two years be reviewed and, crucially, any reconsideration by the Parole Board of its decision would not involve the victim or family, who would be spared from being trapped in the process. With that, I support the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lord Marks. I hope that the Committee will consider it well.