The Secretary of State sets licence conditions for determinate sentence offenders and the Probation Service manages offenders outside of custody whilst they are on licence in the community. Offenders on licence are subject to standard licence conditions set out in secondary legislation, which are applied to all individuals released on licence from a sentence of imprisonment. Standard licence conditions require individuals, among other things, to: be of good behaviour; not to commit any further offences; maintain contact with their supervising officer in accordance with their instructions; and reside at an approved address; and update their supervising officer with any change to their address, name or contact details.
	Individuals can also be subject to further conditions according to their offence type and level of risk, to ensure they are managed appropriately in the community. These can include electronic monitoring requirements, drug testing, and polygraph tests as well as non-contact conditions, which can be set as additional conditions under the policy framework.
	These measures enable new restrictive conditions to be placed on determinate sentence offenders on licence, including the prohibition of driving, expansion of drug testing requirements, a public events ban, the imposition of a restriction zone and a prohibition on entering drinking establishments (namely public houses, bars and nightclubs). By bolstering the robustness of management of offenders in the community, the Probation Service can provide assurance these offenders are being managed appropriately and maintain public confidence in the Probation Service.
	These new restrictive measures include:
Expansion of Drug Testing Requirements: The Probation Service has the power to drug test offenders while on licence in the community. The Probation Service already has the power to include a drug testing licence condition where the offender has a dependency or propensity to misuse, or where drugs either contributed to their prior offending, or are likely to contribute to further offending. This section broadens the application of the current power to allow testing of any offender on licence.
Prohibition of Driving: The Probation Service has the power to ensure that offenders on licence can be prohibited from driving. The Probation Service currently has the power to set driving related licence conditions such as requiring an offender to notify their supervising officer before making a car journey or submit to car searches where relevant to an individual’s offence. However, this section allows for prohibition of driving to be set wider.
Restriction Zones: The Probation Service has a power to impose a condition specifying a "restriction zone". This is a restriction on an offender’s movements to a specific area. Currently, "exclusion zones" can be imposed as licence conditions, these are areas which an offender cannot enter (usually where victims live/work). This new power would also allow restriction zones to be imposed. This would be introduced as a licence condition and it will be targeted to specific individuals defined in policy.
Public Events Ban: The Probation Service has a wider power to impose a condition on specifying that offenders on licence cannot attend public events (which includes sporting events). This does not extend to private events and supervising officers will have guidance to set out the threshold for attendance in circumstances where it would be necessary.
Prohibition of Entering Drinking Establishments: The Probation Service has the power to set wider licence condition prohibiting offenders on licence from entering a drinking establishment which includes a pub, bar or nightclub. Where there are rehabilitative or other essential activities which take place in one of these venues, such as a training course, probation practitioners can grant exemptions.
Policy background Part 2: Management of offenders after sentencing Licences