My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the various Members of the House who have spoken. These amendments relate to offenders serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection, known as IPPs. We had a heartfelt and powerful debate on this issue in Committee; the mood during today’s debate has been equally apparent. I should say that, throughout this time, I have personally received a lot of emails from families affected by IPP sentences. I put on record that I have read all of them, even if I cannot reply to them all individually.
Let me go through the amendments and set out the Government’s position clearly. First, I make it absolutely clear that the Government recognise that more work needs to be done in relation to this group of prisoners. On that basis, the Government intend to bring forward an amendment at Third Reading. I will give details of that amendment in a moment; let me first set out the work done so far.
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We have put together a successful action plan dedicated to the rehabilitation and risk reduction of IPP offenders. We continue to work to increase opportunities for IPP offenders to progress through their sentences to safe release via this plan. Liaising with front-line staff and consulting stakeholders, officials regularly review and revise the plan to ensure that it addresses current operational challenges. As I noted in Committee, the Justice Select Committee in the other place has launched an inquiry into IPP sentences, as already referred to. Its stated aim is to examine
“the continued existence of IPP sentences and to identify possible legislative and policy solutions.”
The Select Committee is scrutinising what the Government are doing and will provide recommendations, which the Government look forward to hearing. I therefore underline that we are already doing effective work in this area.
Turning to the amendments put forward by noble Lords, Amendment 79 would require an independent commission to be created to consider proposals for terminating existing IPP sentences and replacing them with other arrangements as would be appropriate for the individuals concerned. The commission might also consider other matters. The Government’s long-held view is that legislating to resentence IPP offenders would cause an unacceptable risk to public safety. Any resentencing of IPP offenders would risk the immediate
release of many prisoners who have committed serious sexual or violent offences without a risk assessment and, in many cases, with no licence period. It is therefore vital to public protection that they are released only when the independent Parole Board determines that they may be safely managed in the community. Our aim is therefore to provide all those who continue to serve IPP sentences with every opportunity to show that they can safely be released by the Parole Board. The IPP action plan, which I mentioned a moment ago, is working. As of 30 September 2021, there are 1,661 IPP prisoners who have never been released. That marks significant progress compared with the more than 6,000 people in custody serving the IPP sentence at its peak, so we do not think that establishing a commission is necessary, given that officials already consult widely on the measures needed to reduce the IPP prison population safely.
Amendment 80 is intended to reverse what some consider to be the burden of proof for the test applied by the Parole Board when considering whether certain IPP offenders are safe for release. This would apply to IPP offenders who served a prison sentence of 10 years or more beyond the minimum term as directed by the court, or longer than the maximum equivalent determinate sentence, for their offence or offences. The current Parole Board release test is constructed so that the board must not give a direction for release unless it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the prisoner to remain confined. For the offenders in scope of this amendment, the burden of proof test would be reversed. We discussed this matter in Committee when I reiterated our view that the amendment, in so far as it reverses the burden of proof, which some claim is inherent in the current test, would not have a material impact on release decisions for IPP offenders. The intention of this amendment is that the Parole Board assessment should be altered to ensure that more IPP offenders are released. We just do not agree that it would have the intended effect or is in any way necessary because the Parole Board would still have to undertake an assessment of the risk of harm and reoffending to make a judgment on whether the risks could be managed effectively in the community. It is not a matter where a burden of proof, however framed, would likely affect the underlying decision.
I now turn to Amendment 81. I place on record my sincere thanks to the tablers of the amendment, especially the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, for the significant amount of time that he and others have dedicated to discussing this issue with me. I know that he and, indeed, everyone else in the House will listen carefully to what I am about to say. I intend to be very clear.
At Third Reading, we will bring forward a government amendment putting our policy of automatic referral of licensees on a statutory footing so that when the time comes that an application for release or termination of licence can be made, it is made. At this stage, we cannot accept a reduction in the qualifying period from 10 years to five years, but we will return to this issue once we have received the report and recommendations from the Justice Select Committee in the other place, which, as I said, is currently in the process of taking extensive evidence.
As I said, we do not think that establishing a commission would be an effective way forward. However, we are prepared to urgently consider automatic referral, as I said, and by the Secretary of State, as this would not detrimentally impact other conditions and could provide clarity for the individual serving out the licence conditions. To provide reassurance to your Lordships’ House and to those campaigning for change—particularly the family of IPP prisoners—the Government are willing to look at the guidance provided to the probation service and the procedures to be followed in supervising those on licence to minimise the risk of breach of licence and promote the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentence and are now on licence.
Although the Government are clear that it is the role of the Parole Board to assess risk when agreeing release on licence, we are mindful, as was indicated in Committee in the other place, of the potential injustice of the revolving door, and therefore take seriously the representations made by noble Lords in Committee and tonight. I reiterate that I am extremely grateful to those who have taken the time and effort to discuss these matters with me on a number of occasions over the last few weeks.
On this basis, I hope that the tablers of the amendments in this group will agree that the Government are acting in good faith, and will therefore not press their amendments this evening.