Licence Conditions and Temporary Travel Abroad

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LICENCE CONDITIONS AND TEMPORARY TRAVEL ABROAD
This instruction applies to :- / Reference :-
Providers of Probation Services / PI 20/2012
Issue Date / Effective Date
Implementation Date / Expiry Date
06December2012 / 06December2012 / 30 November2016
Issued on the authority of / NOMS Agency Board
For action by / All staff responsible for the development and publication of policy and instructions (Double click in box, as appropriate)
NOMS HQ
All prisons
High Security Prisons only
Contracted Prisons*
Probation Trusts
Governors
Heads of Groups
Contract Managers in Probation Trusts
Probation Trust Chief Executives
* If this box is marked, then in this document the term Governor also applies to Directors of Contracted Prisons except where specified
Instruction type / Service improvement/legal compliance
For information / Senior Community Managers
Offender Managers
Victim Liaison Officers and Victim Unit Managers
Provide a summary of the policy aim and the reason for its development / revision / This Instruction updates the arrangements for the application of standard and additional licence conditions for offenders being released on licence. It also updates advice on the setting of conditions as well as updating the menu of additional conditions available. It also includes a breakdown of who is responsible for approving additional conditions for each type of sentence. It also updates the process for both determinate and indeterminate offenders who wish to travel abroad whilst on licence, and introduces a single process for both.
Contact / For general enquiries: Brian Chapman - Licence Conditions Senior Policy Manager. Email: Tel: 020 7035 1450
For victim related issues: Laura Toze - Head of Victims and Safeguarding Team. Email: Tel: 0300 047 4428
For bespoke conditions and licence variations (pre-release): James Hough
Email: Tel: 0300 047 4475
For bespoke conditions and licence variations (post-release): Sajjda Zafar
Email: Tel: 0300 047 4559
For TACT/extremism issues: Max Beatson – Head of Extremism. Email - Tel: 0300 047 4367
Associated documents / PC11/2008 - Victim Liaison Policy Guidance Manual
PI 02/2011 - Approved Premises National Rules & Guidance for Residents
PSI 40/2012 - Licences and Licence Conditions
PI 16/2012 / PSI 30/2012 - The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 – General summary of release and recall provisions
Replaces the following documents which are hereby cancelled:- PC 04/2006; PI 07/2011; PI 13/2012 - PSO 4700 Chapter 13section 13.14.1(the rest of the Chapter remains in place).
All hard copies of these Instructions must be destroyed.

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CONTENTS

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Section / Subject / For reference by:
1 / Executive Summary / Probation staff involved in the management of licences.
1.2 / Background
1.5 / Desired outcomes
1.6 / Application
1.8 / Mandatory actions
1.9 / Resource impact
2 / Licence Conditions
2.2 / Standard conditions
2.4 / The “Good Behaviour” Condition
2.6 / Additional Licence Conditions
2.12 / Approving Additional Conditions
2.14 / Judicial Recommendations
2.17 / MAPPA
2.18 / Conditions for Extremist/Terrorist Offenders
2.20 / Bespoke Conditions
2.22 / Internet Related Licence Conditions
2.31 / Electronic Monitoring
2.32 / “Supervision” in Child Contact Licence Conditions
2.36 / Exclusion Zones
2.43 / Victims and Licence Conditions
2.50 / Issuing of Licences
2.51 / The Initial Induction Meeting
2.52 / Review of Additional/Bespoke Conditions
2.54 / Licence Variation
3 / Temporary Travel Whilst on Licence / Probation staff who are reviewing an application from an offender to travel abroad on licence on a temporary basis.
3.6 / Who may authorise requests
3.8 / Formulating a decision
3.14 / Employment-related temporary travel
3.17 / Lifers and IPPS
3.18 / Existing and recent applications
Annex A / Additional Licence Condition Criteria and Table / Probation staff involved in the management of licences.
Annex B / Additional Licence Conditions ONLY for Extremist Offenders
Annex C / Flowcharts for Standard Determinate Sentenced Prisoners
Annex D / Flowcharts for 1991 Act Unconverted Determinate Sentenced Prisoners
Annex E / Flowcharts for Indeterminate Offenders and all Recalled Offenders
Annex F / Request For Suspension Of Supervisory Element Of Life/IPP Licence
Annex G / Request Variation of Life/IPP Licence

1.Executive Summary

1.1 This Instruction updates the arrangements for the application of standard and additional licence conditions for offenders being released on licence. It includes menus of additional conditions that can be applied if it is considered that such conditions are necessary to manage risk effectively, including conditions that may be applicable when managing extremist offenders. This instruction also includes a breakdown of who is responsible for approving additional conditions for each type of sentence.

Background

1.2The aims of the licence period are to protect the public, to prevent re-offending and to secure the successful re-integration of the offender into the community. Licence conditions should be preventative as opposed to punitive and must be proportionate, reasonable and necessary. Contract Managers in Probation Trusts must have procedures in place for monitoring and enforcement.

1.3This instruction updates advice on the setting of conditions as well as updating the menu of additional conditions available. There have been a number of changes made to additional licence conditions, including those related to access to the internet where the primary condition has been reworded for clarity and a condition related to checking of equipment has been added to allow for the installation of monitoring software where available. Further conditions have been added related to passports and notifying the offender manager of new relationships with persons who live in households where children are present.

1.4One of the six standard licence conditions listed in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003) is that an offender may not travel outside of the UK (which in this context includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) without permission from their supervising officer. This instruction aims to update and replace PC 04/2006, and introduce greater clarity for staff reviewing applications from offenders to temporarily travel abroad whilst on licence. Two significant changes have been made in this version of the policy:

• An overhaul of the two separate sets of criteria for determinate and indeterminate sentenced offenders, bringing them together in a single set for ease of use by practitioners; and,
• The introduction of additional criteria to consider when an offender is applying to temporarily travel abroad while on licence for employment related reasons.

Desired outcomes

1.5This Instruction has been issued to ensure that sufficient advice has been given to enable staff to accurately access whether licence conditions are necessary and proportionate on a case by case basis and that the appropriate staff are aware of:

• standard licence conditions; and,
• the menu of additional licence conditions available to facilitate the effective management of risk in respect of offenders on licence; and,
• the menu of bespoke licence conditions available, if necessary, in respect of extremist offenders; and,
• the process for approving additional and bespoke licence conditions; and,
• the criteria for considering applications from offenders on licence to travel abroad.

Application

1.6Section 2 of this Instruction provides guidance on the process to be followed when seeking additional licence conditions, as well as the criteria to be met when considering whether such conditions are both necessary and proportionate:

• Annex A provides the menu of additional licence conditions available; and,
• Annex B provides a menu of additional licence conditions that are available for extremist offenders only; and
• Annexes C, D and E are flowcharts which illustrate the process applying for additional licence conditions.
• There is no Annex F in order to maintain the lettering of Annexes G and H from PC 29/2007.
• Annexes G and H have been restored from PC 29/2007, as they have been continued to be used in the interim. Both forms have retained the same lettering as in the previous instruction. These are forms for the suspension or variation of licence conditions for IPP and life sentenced offenders in the community.

1.7Section 3 of this Instruction provides guidance on the process to be followed when an offender wishes to travel abroad on a temporary basis while they are on licence.

Mandatory actions

1.8Contract Managers in Probation Trusts must ensure that probation staff are aware of, and comply with, the mandatory requirements which are summarised below:

• Offender Managers must ensure that any additional licence condition in respect of indeterminate and extended sentence prisoners has a causal link to the kind of risk to the public that the sentence was imposed to address (i.e. intended specifically to manage and reduce the risk of further sexual or violent re-offending). It must also be possible to demonstrate that the condition is both necessary to manage the risk and proportionate to the level of risk.
• Offender Managers must ensure that any additional condition for determinate sentence prisoners is necessary and proportionate in order to manage and/or reduce the risk of further offending of any nature. This will be determined by the offender’s identified risk factors, which in turn will be based upon his/her previous offending.
• Requests for licence conditions must be made on the PD1 form, no later than 28 days prior to the offender’s release.
• Prior to release (six months for MAPPA cases and four months for non MAPPA cases unless sentence length prevents it) Offender Managers must contact the local police and the relevant Victim Unit and take into account MAPPA meetings where applicable, to establish if there is a case for additional conditions to be inserted, although the final responsibility for recommending licence conditions remains with the Probation Provider.
• Offender Managers must explain each condition of the licence and consequences of breach on the first occasion the offender reports following release from custody. The offender must be asked to sign the licence in order to show that they understand their conditions.
• Offender Managers must review the current usage of internet-related licence conditions as per the instructions in 2.22-2.30.
• Any additional licence conditions must be taken from Annex A, except for bespoke conditions which must be approved by NOMS Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS), and those included in Annex B which may only be used for extremist offenders. For the purposes of this document, extremist offenders includes all those convicted of offences under terrorism legislation; those whose offending is known to be linked to extremist organisations or causes including but not limited to Al Qaida inspired, extreme right wing or extreme left wing, animal rights or environmental issues; and those where evidence shows that they have been radicalised whilst in custody. These conditions have been designed to manage the specific risks to the community that may be posed by these types of offenders. As with other additional conditions, they should only be used where they can be demonstrated to be necessary and proportionate.
• The wording of any additional licence condition from Annex A or B must not be modified except where allowed by the use of capital letters inside square brackets.
• The criteria for consideration of temporary travel abroad requests at 3.10 must be applied in all cases on a case by case basis, except where the business related criterion in 3.14 is more appropriate, in which case it must be considered instead of criterion 1 in 3.10.
• Where an offender applying for temporary travel abroad is a foreign national, there is now a requirement that Contract Managers in Probation Trusts must ensure that probation staff liaise with the UK Borders Agency in order to see if the offender is of interest to them, and if so, for further information that may be taken into account when considering the appropriate criteria.

Resource Impact

1.9The arrangements set out in this instruction for the setting of licence conditions are already in place but will require updating due to this instruction.

1.10We have required thatexisting internet-related conditions be reviewed. We havesurveyed a number of Probation Trusts and found that these types of conditions represent a small subset of the overall number of offenders on licence, and therefore the resource impact it would take to amend the existing licences will be lesser than responding to the potential judicial reviews brought by existing offenders should their licences not be updated.

(signed)

Digby Griffith

Director of National Operational Services, NOMS

2. Licence Conditions

2.1Offenders released from custody into the community for a period of time to be spent on licence as part of their sentence will be bound by a number of licence conditions. The standard conditions and additional conditions which can be tailored to managing the risk of serious harm and reoffending posed by the offender are explained below. Where an offender is released from custody but not on licence, they are not bound to licence conditions as discussed in this instruction.

Standard Conditions

2.2Menus of licence conditions have been derived from Criminal Justice (Sentencing) (Licence Conditions) Order 2005 (2005 Order), to apply to offenders sentenced under the CJA 2003. In order to ensure consistent treatment of cases, these menus of licence conditionsare also used as guidance for licence conditions for those all groups of offenders who are subject to release on licence.

2.3A licence must contain the six standard licence conditions set out below. Wording may vary slightly on some standard licences such as some Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoner (ISP, meaning a life sentenced offender) or Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP)) licences.

i)To keep in touch with your supervising officer in accordance with any instruction you may be given;

ii)If required, to receive visits from your supervising officer at your home/place of residence (e.g. an Approved Premises);

iii)Permanently to reside at an address approved by your supervising officer and notify him/her in advance of any proposed change to address or any proposed stay (even for one night) away from that approved address;

iv)Undertake only such work (including voluntary work) approved by your supervising officer and notify him or her in advance of any proposed change;

v)Not to travel outside the United Kingdom unless otherwise directed by your supervising officer (permission for which will be given in exceptional circumstances only) or for the purpose of complying with immigration/deportation;

vi)To be well behaved, not to commit any offence and not to do anything which could undermine the purpose of your supervision, which is to protect the public, prevent you from re-offending and help you to re-settle successfully into the community.

The “Good Behaviour” Condition

2.4The “Good Behaviour” condition (listed in 2.3 as vi) is designed to cover the majority of eventualities. For example, it can be used to deal with activities which are thought to be leading to reoffending, associating with other known offenders, inciting hatred in respect of extremist offenders, and any behaviour or incident that might give rise to an increased risk of serious harm or re-offending. Additional conditions should only be used to cover specific areas of concern which Offender Managers feel cannot explicitly be covered by this condition. In short, the “Good Behaviour” condition contains sufficient authority to manage the majority of risks in the community. It is only where there is a specific concern that needs to be addressed that additional conditions should be added to a licence.These considerations must be explained to the offender at the initial meeting, as per 2.50 below.

2.5Should the offender be signed up to a voluntary agreement outside of the licence then any non-participation in the scheme by the offender is their own choice and cannot be considered a breach of the “Good Behaviour” condition. This includes both where an offender refuses to join a voluntary scheme, and where they have started on a scheme but decide afterwards not to follow its requirements. Neither the Approved Premises Rules nor those in place at an offending behaviour course constitute a voluntary agreement, and failure to comply with them can lead to enforcement action under the “Good Behaviour” condition of the licence, including recall.

Additional Licence Conditions

2.6Licences may also include additional conditions, for example, exclusion zones or non-contact requirements, provided that these requirements fall within one of the categories prescribed in Statutory Instrument No 648 of 2005 of the Criminal Justice (Sentencing) (Licence Conditions) Order 2005.

2.7These requirements are:

(a)a requirement that he/she reside at a certain place;

(b)a requirement relating to his/her making or maintaining contact with a person;

(c)a restriction relating to his/her making or maintaining contact with a person;

(d)a restriction on his/her participation in, or undertaking of, an activity;

(e)a requirement that he/she participate in, or co-operate with, a programme or set of activities designed to further one or more of the purposes referred to in section 250(8) of the 2003 Act;

(f)a requirement that he/she comply with a curfew arrangement;

(g)a restriction on his/her freedom of movement (which is not a requirement referred to in sub-paragraph (f));

(h)a requirement relating to his/her supervision in the community by a responsible officer.

2.8If Offender Managers assess that standard conditions are not sufficient to assist the offender’s successful integration into the community, to prevent further re-offending and ensure the protection of the public, they may give consideration to using the additional conditions at Annex A or B to this instruction. If a condition is used from this list then the exact wording must be used and it must not be altered or tailored in any way, except for selecting specific options from within any square brackets in the relevant condition. If further tailoring is required, then Offender Managers should seek advice from PPCS.

2.9When putting together the risk management plan prior to release the Offender Manager must contact the local police force, and the relevant Victim Unit (where there is a Victim Liaison Officer involved in the case) and any partner agencies in the MAPPA process (if the offender is MAPPA eligible) to ascertain if there is a case for the inclusion of additional and/or bespoke conditions. Additional conditions may also be proposed at MAPPA meetings, but it is for the Offender Manager to make requests for additional licence conditions as part of their Risk Management Plan as per 2.12 below. The only conditions that may be approved are those that are necessary and proportionate to the management of the offender’s risk in the community.

2.10The Offender Manager must decide in consultation with senior probation colleagues if the request for an additional licence condition(s) is both necessary and proportionate to manage the offender’s risk.