Section 1: Eligibility for release on licence of terrorist prisoners: England and Wales
The release on licence of offenders serving fixed-term sentences is governed by provisions contained in Chapter 6 of Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Section 1(2) creates a new release provision, section 247A, applying to all relevant terrorist offenders, standardising their first eligible release point to the two-thirds point of their sentence (or the custodial element of it in the case of an SOPC or extended sentence), and referring all such offenders to the Parole Board for consideration of whether they are safe to release after that point. While section 247A will cover all relevant terrorist offenders, including who those who are serving an extended sentence, the Act does not change the release arrangements for those terrorist offenders; it aligns them.
	New section 247A(1) applies the new release provision to relevant terrorist offenders serving a fixed term sentence. New section 247A(2) provides that a relevant offence is a counter-terrorism offence specified in the new Schedule 19ZA, or any other offence specified in that Schedule where the court found a terrorist connection under section 30 or section 31 (for Scotland) or section 32 (for armed services offences) of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, whilst also making it clear that the changes apply to both existing and future sentences during the custodial period. It will not apply to those already released.
	New section 247A(3) places a duty on the Secretary of State to refer relevant offenders to the Parole Board and specifies that reviews must take place at the two-thirds point (for extended sentences and SOPCs this is two-thirds of the custodial part of the sentence imposed by the court), and then at least every two years where the Board’s decision is not to release the offender.
	New section 247A(4) requires that the prisoner may only be released from the two-thirds point of the custodial period, and only once the Parole Board has directed it. New section 247A(5) makes it clear this can only take place once referral has been made and the Board has determined that the prisoner is safe to be released.
	For adult and youth offenders serving an extended determinate sentence, an extended sentence for public protection or a SOPC, new section 247A(6) and (7) place a duty on the Secretary of State to release these offenders on licence at the end of their custodial term if discretionary release is not directed by the Parole Board before that point.
	New section 247A(8) contains definitions of the relevant periods. New section 247A(8)(c) ensures that the new release requirement for the relevant sentence is carried through and applied when the prisoner is also serving another sentence, whether concurrently or consecutively. New section 247A(9) provides for relevant offenders who have already begun their parole review process before commencement of the Act, bringing them into the scope of the provisions for subsequent referrals to the Board. New section 247A(10) makes it clear that those offenders who have already received a release direction from the Board, who remain in prison for reasons such as awaiting a place in an Approved Premises, are unaffected by the provisions of the Act.
	Subsection (3) of section 1 inserts Schedule 19ZA to the 2003 Act. Schedule 19ZA lists the terrorist and terrorist connection offences which the new provisions apply to.