Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the report of the Hallett Review, how in the absence of the lost records a beneficiary of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy prior to 1997 is able to demonstrate the grant of the exercise of the Royal Prerogative; and if she will make a statement.

The Hallett Review drew attention to issues regarding record-keeping about the RPM, which the Northern Ireland Office is addressing. The Hallett Review did not deal with the exercise of the RPM prior to 1997 but only touches upon it in passing. During the pre-1998 period the use of RPM was relatively common: it was not recorded centrally and records are likely to have been destroyed in accordance with proper protocols. Where the RPM was used prior to 1997 to remit (i.e. shorten) the sentences of individuals who had already been convicted of offences, their release from custody can, on occasion, provide some evidence of the exercise of the RPM. In addition, there may in some cases, be contemporaneous correspondence which provides evidence of the exercise of the RPM.