Prisoners: Imprisonment for Public Protection Sentences

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I thank the noble and learned Lord for his question. Of course, I am well aware that noble Lords across the House have raised this issue on numerous occasions. We are taking measures to attempt to address the situation. One positive thing I hope that noble Lords will accept is that the Parole Board is tackling the backlog in oral hearings, which has been reduced by 18% since January. The noble and learned Lord is absolutely right that the Secretary of State has the power to amend the release test. He is extremely mindful of the concerns expressed and of his powers, but there are no plans to use those powers at present.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, the Minister will recall the passion that our colleague the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, brought to this issue. Since he retired in March there has been a change of Government and of Minister. Could we please have a change of policy, too?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

Along with the noble Lord, I pay tribute to the much missed noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd. I hope that the noble Lord sees that we take this extremely seriously. As I mentioned, we have started to tackle the unacceptable backlog—but more needs to be done. Through the indeterminate sentences prisoner co-ordination group, we have also looked at improving processes. Waiting times for transferring IPP offenders to open prisons has fallen from around nine months to six to eight weeks. We are prioritising places on offender behaviour programmes and interventions. We are encouraging offender managers to draw up sentence plans that consider a variety of interventions. NOMS has also undertaken a series of reviews which we are looking to implement, particularly for prisoners who have had four or five post-tariff reviews and still failed to progress. I understand the concerns raised by noble Lords but we are taking action.