49. Memorandum submitted by
the Rt Hon John Reid MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department
You will recall that I said during the course
of my evidence session yesterday that caution should be attached
to all of the information which I had been given to provide to
the Committee. As if to confirm that statement, I am afraid that
I have to write to you to correct information that I was supplied
with in respect of the number of offenders currently detained
in prison, and which I conveyed to your Committee.
I reported to you, as I also set out in my Written
Ministerial Statement, that four murderers and 23 other "most
serious" offenders, including rapists and child sex offenders
(who were amongst the 1,019 cases who were not considered for
deportation before their release from prison) were now detained
in prison. However, I was informed late last night that one of
these murderers, one rapist and one child sex offender who were
detained have in fact since been released on bail by the Asylum
and Immigration Tribunal. In addition, I have now been told that
eight other cases where the individual has been bailed, including
four in the "more serious" category. I have been told
that these bail applications were heard over the last 10 days
and that more hearings are due to take place in the coming days.
The decision to release on bail is a decision
properly for the tribunal judge. I cannot and do not hold officials
responsible for the judgement to grant bail in these cases. However,
to be put in a position where information was wrongly given to
your Committee—in spite of the caveats that I put around
that information—is not acceptable and I apologise to you
and to your Committee.
I have spent this morning confirming the above
facts as best I can, but feel that I should now write to you at
the earliest possible time to rectify the mistaken information
given. In the meantime, I have asked the Department for another
re-check of all the figures provided to you yesterday.
In addition, and due to the seriousness of this
matter, my Permanent Secretary David Normington and my Director
General of IND Lin Homer have decided to take immediate management
action to remove one senior civil servant from his current duties
and to advance the plans to change significantly the duties of
another. This action is separate from the investigation into the
overall failure to consider the 1,019 prisoners for deportation
which I told your Committee yesterday that I had asked the Director-General
of IND to carry out once the immediate priority of dealing with
the 1,019 cases had been addressed.
24 May 2006
| 
