The Parole Board has statutory powers to: The Parole Board also has the power to advise the Scottish Ministers on additional conditions on prisoners' release licences, and it operates as appellate body for alleged breaches of Home Detention Curfew.

The Parole Board can only make a determination where the Scottish Ministers refer a case.

It is a Tribunal Non-Departmental Public Body which has a number of statutory functions but operates independently from the Scottish Government.

Decisions made by the Board are intended to focus on the potential risk a prisoner might pose to the community.

[4] In 2011, an Audit Scotland review of Scotland’s criminal justice system noted that the Parole Board is sometimes limited in its ability to grant parole because of the lack of availability of rehabilitation programmes in prison.