Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In October 2020 a ‘root and branch review’ of the Parole Board was announced.

One part of this review was a public consultation on the question of whether hearings of the Parole Board should be held in public. The outcome of this consultation has now been published (8 February 2021).

At present, the Parole Board Rules forbid Parole Board hearings from taking place in public. In responses to the Consultation, a minority of respondents argued that all hearings should be open. However, a majority thought this would be impracticable. Too many hearings involved the consideration of matters that it would not be in the public interest to disclose.

The Government has now concluded that there might be limited circumstances in which an open hearing might be appropriate. It has therefore decided that the Parole Board Rules should be amended to at least make it possible for a hearing to take place in public.

It is likely that the relevant rule amendment will be made in the coming months. Meanwhile, work continues on the other that formed part of the root and branch review. Further announcements are anticipated later in 2021.

I wrote a blog item on the review and its scope when it was announced in October 2020. See https://martinpartington.com/2020/10/31/root-and-branch-review-of-the-system-of-parole-and-the-work-of-the-parole-board/

The Report on the outcome of the Consultation on making hearings open to the public is at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/root-and-branch-review-of-the-parole-system