Infected Blood Compensation Body Imprisonment or detention for public protection: termination of licences for public protection
The Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence is an indeterminate sentence where courts set a minimum term (tariff) commensurate with the offending which has to be served in prison. At the end of the tariff, and at least every two years after, the Secretary of State must refer the case to the Parole Board who either release if the statutory test is met, or confirm the further detention. If released, the offender is subject to a life licence. At the end of the qualifying period (currently 10 years) the Parole Board can direct the Secretary of State to order that the licence is to cease to have effect, and end the IPP sentence.
	Opposition to the IPP sentence has come from families of IPP prisoners, prison reform groups and parliamentarians, particularly in the House of Lords. Successive governments have resisted significant legislative reform on the grounds of public protection, the main concern being that releasing offenders who have been too dangerous for release by the Parole Board presents a real risk of further serious offending.
	The HMPPS IPP Action Plan, published in April 2023, has provided intensive help for IPP offenders to reduce their risk and work towards Parole Board release. These efforts have resulted in a significant fall in the IPP prison population who have never been released. The Justice Select Committee (JSC) published their report on the IPP Sentence on 28 September 2022 following a year long inquiry. One of the recommendations was that the point of eligibility for licence termination should be brought forward to five years following first release. The Government and Parole Board’s official response was published on 9 February 2023. These amendments adopt one of the JSC’s recommendations.
	The measure in this Act will reduce the current licence termination qualifying period from 10 years to three years. Where the licence is not terminated by the Parole Board the licence will be automatically terminated where there is a further two year period in the community without being recalled to prison (the ‘good behaviour period’). Re-release from recall will reset the automatic period. This is based on data that shows that recalls to prison primarily occur in the first three years after release, and reduce from year four onwards. If recalled to prison and subsequently released, the new two year "good behaviour" period provides offenders with an opportunity to demonstrate two years without recall to prison, and qualify for automatic termination of their licence. The measures also require the Government to publish an annual report on progress on reducing the IPP population. This includes how many licences have been ended, steps to improve sentence progression and how they are supporting certain cohorts of offenders.