PB Consultation on Public Hearings Survey

Link to Consultation Document (PDF, 407KB, 25 pages)

PB Consultation on Public hearings

The Parole board have launched a consultation to considering whether to make some Parole Board hearing open to the victims of crime and the wider public. We attach herein a copy of the consultation paper (link to document above). The date to respond is 1^st December 2020 (Tuesday). If this consultation leads to some public hearings this will significantly impact on our respective Parole Board practice as well, in our view, the nature of hearings. We will be submitting our response to this consultation by Monday,

There is a lot to consider. For the purposes of the APL’s response we would invite you to consider and to respond to the following questions:

1. Should hearings be heard in private or are there some cases where you consider the public be allowed? If so, please explain.

2. Do you feel the current PB rules that allow for the presence of observers to be adequate?

3. If the public are allowed should this be allowed for members of public who are directly linked to the case and/or the press and/or the general public?

4. What concerns do you have if hearings were made public for specific cases?

5. What problems do you foresee with public hearings?

6. Do you have any other issues you would like to APL to consider if we respond to this consultation