To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the (a) shortest, and (b) longest, periods for the Secretary of State for Justice to respond to a Parole Board recommendation that a convicted prisoner be transferred to open conditions prior to release. [HL1393]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what priority is given by the Secretary of State for Justice to a recommendation by the Parole Board that a prisoner who has waited for 12 months or more for a hearing be transferred to open conditions prior to release. [HL1394]

The National Offender Management Service has a target of 42 days from the date of receipt of the recommendation for considering a Parole Board recommendation for transfer to open conditions and issuing a final decision. In a sample of 100 recent cases, this target was met in 86 per cent of cases. Based on the same sample, the average period of time spent considering whether to accept a recommendation was 29.6 days. In some complex cases, it will take longer to deal with a recommendation, due to aspects of the case that require closer scrutiny.

Since 1 January 2008, the shortest amount of time taken from receipt of the recommendation to issuing the response is the same day. The longest case recorded since 1 January 2008 is, exceptionally, 438 days. However, since that recommendation was first received and considered, new streamlined processes have been put in place which have significantly improved the timeliness of consideration and have prevented such delays from recurring.

The Secretary of State does not have a policy of giving higher priority to the handling of recommendations for transfer to open conditions in cases where the prisoner's Parole Board hearing has been delayed. The 42 day target is applied from the date of receipt, and recent sampling demonstrates that 86 per cent of cases are considered within that target.

Consideration is being given to whether there is scope to reduce the target. Furthermore, we are working closely with the board to introduce a raft of measures to reduce the scope for parole delays and ensure that all cases are dealt with in a timely way.