The Parole Board for England & Wales Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23
The Board has laid before Parliament its Annual Report and Accounts for 2022/23
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The Annual Report
The Board has laid before Parliament its Annual Report and Accounts for 2022/23.
The Parole Board’s overall priority is protecting the public, and it plays a vital role in doing so, by assessing whether prisoners are safe to be released. In 2022/23, we decided that 11,466 people (75% of the people we reviewed), needed to be detained in custody for the protection of the public, and 3,637 were released.
During the reporting year, the Parole Board continued to conduct the majority of its oral hearings remotely, based on an assessment of the case. In 2023/24, there is expected to be an increase in the number of hearings held face to face, as the pandemic is receding.
Key statistics at the end of the reporting year:
- 8,085 oral hearings were conducted (8,834 in 2021/22)
- 5,890 oral hearings were concluded (6,336 in 2021/22)
- 11,050 prisoners were refused release at paper and oral hearing (11,407 in 2021/22)
- 3,637 prisoners were directed for release at paper and oral hearing (4,139 in 2021/22)
- 416 prisoners were recommended for open at paper and oral hearing (568 in 2021/22)
- In total, 11,466 prisoners were refused release (11,975 in 2021/22) and 3,637 prisoners were released (4,139 in 2021/22)
Further details regarding the Parole Board’s performance can be found within the attached Performance Data document 2022/23.
The Board also carried out a huge amount of other important work:
- The Parole Board welcomed the broadcast of a ground-breaking BBC2 documentary which provided unprecedented, uncensored, access to the parole process.
- In 2022/23, for the first time we held two parole board hearings in public. We expect more cases to be opened up to the public, where the legal test for an open hearing is made, in the next financial year.
- A test in the South West of England is being conducted by the Ministry of Justice and the Parole Board whereby victims will automatically have the right to apply to attend private hearings.
- The workload of the Parole Board has increased by 45% since 2018/19, and there is now an urgent need to increase our member capacity to ensure we can keep pace with demand.
- There was a total of 318 members across the business year 2022/23 (308 active and ten former active members). As of 31 March 2023, there were 292 members (283 current active and nine former active members). A full list of the Parole Board membership and their biographies can be found attached.
Review Committee
The purpose of the Review Committee is to ensure that the Parole Board has arrangements in place to review and monitor its decisions to release offenders on parole licence and on temporary licence in cases where the offender is alleged to have committed a serious further offence. The Review Committee sits outside the formal management structure, to retain its independent scrutiny role. A formal report is submitted to the Management Committee on an annual basis. The Parole Board attaches a summary of that formal report for 2022/23, that is suitable for publication.
Register of Management Committee Members’ interests
The below details any additional interests or personal relationships that Management Committee members may have with outside bodies or individuals which might, to their knowledge, conflict with the work of the Ministry of Justice and its Agency. It also includes details of political activities, shareholdings and sponsorships as well as interests of close family members/people living in the same household.
| Name | Interest held |
|---|---|
| Caroline Corby | Chair of One Housing, (appointed August 2022 but a NED since January 2018) and Vice-Chair of The Riverside Group Limited (TRGL) (appointed December 2021) when One Housing became a subsidiary of TRGL. Chair of the Professional Standards Authority (appointed February 2021) and a NED of the Security Industry Authority (appointed September 2022). Member of the Management Committee of the Public Chairs’ Forum (appointed November 2019) and a Trustee of the JML Charitable Trust (appointed May 2017). |
| Martin Jones | Board Member of the association of Chief Executives. Regional Vice-President of Association of Parole Authorities International. Chair of the Association of Chief Executives (ACE). |
| Robert McKeon | Tribunal Member of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service |
| Gary Sims | Discovery Schools Academies Trust Ltd, Venturezen Consulting Limited, Sims Property Limited, Venturezen Limited, Plexus UK (First Project) Limited, Omega Housing Limited, G And C Sims Limited, Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales, National Residential Landlords Association, For Housing Limited |
| Alan Clamp | Board member at the Chartered Insurance Institute, Governor at the Royal Latin School, Chief Executive of the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care |
| Peter Rook | Associate Member Red Lion Chambers, The Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund, sits as a Judge sitting in retirement |
| Julie Dent | Chair of Colab, an Exeter based charity that provides services to homeless and vulnerable people including people in the criminal justice system in the community |
| Maneer Afsar | Independent Member for GM Police Ethics Committee, Board of Trustees Inspire Community Trust |
| Cassie Williams | Head of regulatory at Bank House barristers’ chambers, Sheffield. Lead external examiner for advocacy at the Bar Standards Board |