The changes have been given impetus by the arrest of Pitchfork just weeks after he was released from a 33-year jail sentence for raping and killing Dawn Ashworth and Lynda Mann in 1983 and 1986, respectively.

He was recalled to jail after approaching young women on multiple occasions while out on walks from the bail hostel where he was living. There were also concerns he had been trying to cheat lie detector tests by using breathing techniques.

Nick Hardwick, a former chairman of the Parole Board who resigned after the Worboys controversy, said it would be difficult to hand back decisions on whether to imprison an individual to politicians rather than judges.

Instead, he said that the Justice Secretary should take a tougher approach to challenging decisions when they were made through representatives at hearings. 

He added: “It would be healthy if decision makers on parole panels were put to serious challenge at the time by the Secretary of State’s representative.”

Commentator Danny Shaw, the BBC’s former home affairs correspondent, said: “The main problem with any change to the way prisoner release decisions are made is that it will raise expectations that cannot be fulfilled. 

“Assessing the risk offenders present, as Raab has conceded, is not a precise calculation. Risk is dynamic and unpredictable. The inmates who present the greatest threat on release are often those serving sentences for less serious crimes, not necessarily the most notorious ones. 

“In a criminal justice system where the vast majority of prisoners are given a second chance someone has to make the decision about whether to let them out or not. We have to accept that not every decision will turn out well.”