Observer guidance - private hearings (January 2025 v2.1)
The Parole Board Observer Guidance has been updated.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
The Observer guidance has been fully revised to take account of:
- the changes to Parole Board rule 14;
- confidentiality;
- the change in position on privacy of hearings including public hearings;
- remote hearing considerations;
- information about case management conferences;
- the observer application process;
- points for observers to note.
In order to support the consideration of observer applications, the guidance has been provided to Parole Board members. Whilst the guidance aims to provide advice for most eventualities there may always be unusual circumstances not covered.
This guidance should be read carefully before considering applying to observe a parole oral hearing.
Victims wishing to observe a Parole Board private oral hearing should also read the information set out in the Victims Guidance which can be found here:
Members of the media/press or the public should read the information on public hearings, which can be found here:
Applying for a Parole Review to be Public
This replaces all previous Parole Board guidance on Observers