NPM Bulletin – November 2025
Welcome
Welcome to the NPM’s November bulletin.
The past month has been full of engagement and collaboration across the UK and beyond. Earlier in the month I presented at an online event moderated by Aaliya Sewal, reflecting on our evidence to the ICCPR in Geneva last year and best ways to engage with the international treaty reporting process. I also met with the South Korean Human Rights Commission, as they seek to encourage their government to ratify OCPAT. I explained the UK’s path to ratification and offered our support. Sherry and I also met with the new Minister for Policing and Crime, Sarah Jones, to discuss recent media coverage of policing in the UK and the importance of independent monitoring and oversight within policing. I am now writing to you from Leuven, Belgium, where I am attending a workshop on National Preventive Mechanisms in Europe. Of course, I am taking the opportunity to show off our Reporting Dashboard, too!
The NPM Central Team also recently met in Liverpool for our annual Team Day, where we discussed achievements to date and our strategy and priorities for the new business plan for 2026-27. You can read more about the Team Day in our latest blog.
Jane is now managing the design and fact-check of the updated annual report, and we thank bodies for sending all comments and feedback. Jane also continues to work on projects related to detention in mental health and social care settings. Chelsea has kicked off our new AI Task and Finish group and continues work on several key workstreams. Sarah has drafted and circulated the self-evaluation and peer review that NPM bodies will now undertake to analyse our collective OPCAT compliance, and also continues to work on the Reporting Dashboard, updating and analysing its data.
Finally, I wanted to share some personal news. In December, I will be leaving my post as Head of the UK NPM. I will first take some months to work with the Office of Inspectorate of Prisons in the Republic of Ireland to progress the implementation of OPCAT as Expert Senior Advisor, before returning to the UK where I will take up post as Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland in the Spring.
It has been a privilege to lead the UK NPM and work alongside such a dedicated and passionate team and network. The UK NPM will continue to thrive in the safe hands of Martin Kettle, Inspector at HMIP, who will take on the role of interim Head of the UK NPM. I have every confidence that Martin and the team will continue to build on our shared successes.
As always, we encourage you to share this bulletin with your staff and volunteers so they can stay up to date with the latest NPM news. If you have received this bulletin as a forwarded email and would like to subscribe, please reply to this message.
With best wishes,
Sam Gluckstein, Head of UK NPM
National Subgroups
The NPM Scotland Subgroup’s next meeting will take place on 27 November. The group is currently developing a seminar on key issues in detention in Scotland, which will take place in early 2026. Stay tuned for updates!
The Northern Ireland Subgroup continues to focus on the Justice Bill and ongoing concerns about available accommodation for children given bail. The Subgroup will produce a submission to the Committee of Justice, and the Departments of Health and Justice, to urgently address the current state of accommodation, bail and remand for young people. The next Subgroup meeting will take place on 9 December.
National Detention Monitoring and Inspection Conference
There are only 3 weeks to go until our all-NPM online conference in November! If you have not already done so, you can register for the conference here.
The conference will take place online on 28th November 2025 from 10:00 – 13:00 with an exciting line-up of speakers, including:
- Maria Luísa Romero, Chair of the United Nations Subcommittee of the Prevention of Torture
- Ben Buckland, Senior Adviser at the Association for the Prevention of Torture.
- National senior leaders on the prevention of ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty
- Colleagues from within the NPM
- Colleagues from within the establishments we inspect and monitor
Please continue to share the event with colleagues so as many as the 3500 OPCAT mandate-holders can attend!
Blog: Mid-Year Reflections and Next Steps
In this month’s blog, the Sarah reflects on the UK NPM Central Team’s annual Team Day and achievements made so far in the 2025-26 Business Plan.
Read the blog here.
Using the Reporting Dashboard
Did you know that the Reporting Dashboard can tell you what key themes of concern or good practice are?
At the UK NPM Central Team’s recent Team Day in Liverpool, Sarah led an interactive session exploring how the Reporting Dashboard can be used to analyse data and spot emerging concerning trends across different settings. The team used the data available to identify key issues arising across detention settings. The key themes identified through this activity closely mirrored what the Central Team already knew, reinforcing how powerful the Dashboard can be in combining data-driven analysis with professional expertise.
However, the Dashboard isn’t just for identifying concerns. As part of developing the new Good Practice Thematic Series, Sarah has been using it to pinpoint positive trends across the 2024-25 reporting period, helping to shine a light on what’s working well across the NPM network.
Using the Reporting Dashboard analytically allows us to build richer, system-wide understandings of the challenges and successes shaping places of deprivation of liberty
Please let us know how you are using the Dashboard by sending us an email.
If you have any questions about how to use the Dashboard, or just want to know more, please feel free to attend a drop-in session with Sarah on Wednesday 19th November at 10am: Join the meeting here.
Good Practice: Insights from 2024-25
This month’s bulletin kicks off our new series of spotlighting good practice across settings in the UK, using the Reporting Dashboard.
This first good practice thematic gives an overview of the key good practice trends reported on during the 2024-25 reporting period, complementing the forthcoming analysis in the UK NPM’s Annual Report.
Read the thematic on our website.
Spotlight reports from NPM bodies
Care Quality Commission – The state of health care and adult social care in England 2024/25
In its annual State of Care report, CQC has warned that the health and social care system remains fragmented and under severe strain. Without more support to help community services, there is real risk of erosion in care quality, with people struggling to get the care they need and the most vulnerable groups likely to be hit hardest through longer waits, reduced access and poorer outcomes.
Read here: State of Care report 2024/25
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons – ‘Just passing time’: A review of work and training provision in adult prisons
This report reveals a deeply concerning picture of far too few activity spaces for the prison population, poor attendance in classes and work, and a failure to make sure prisoners develop the skills that will help them to stop reoffending. This situation will only be exacerbated by continuing government cuts.
Read here: ‘Just passing time’
Lay Observers – Broken journeys, broken system: The impact of poor transport on court custody
Monitoring by the Lay Observers has consistently found that secure transportation to and from court is inadequate, resulting in unnecessary suffering for detained people and high levels of wasted resources. Despite this issue being highlighted for years, no appropriate action has yet been taken to remedy the situation.
Read here: Broken journeys, broken system
Latest news from NPM bodies
- CJI and representatives from the IMBNI met to discuss areas of interest with regards to prisons, and were joined by the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.
- Chief Inspector Jacqui Durkin, Meloney McVeigh and Isabel Faggioli, CJI, attended the Northern Ireland Social Media awards. CJI was shortlisted in the Public Sector or Not-for-profit campaign category for its podcast!
- On 17 October, Chief Inspector Jacqui Durkin of CJI attended the annual service to mark Prisons Week 2025 in Hydebank Wood Secure College and Women’s Prisons.
- CQC has published its annual State of Care report for 2024/25 which looks at trends, shares examples of good care and highlights where improvements are needed.
- HIW has published its Annual Report for 2024-2025, which draws attention to a health system under pressure where risks to patient safety persist.
- A reminder that HIW’s public consultation on its draft strategy for 2026-2030 is still open until 1 December.
- HMICFRS has published a report on an inspection visit to the British Transport Police custody suite. This is the first inspection since the new PEEL framework has been introduced to HMICFRS custody inspections.
- HMIP has published several inspection reports, including a report on work and training provision in adult prisons.
- IMB has published several annual monitoring reports.
- IMB National Chair, Elisabeth Davies, wrote to the Minister of State for Prisons, Lord Timpson, raising serious concerns about use of force in the prison estate.
- LO has published a thematic report on the impact of poor transport to and from court custody on detained people.
- MWCS published inspection reports for HMP Barlinnie and HMP Perth.
- Ofsted has published inspection reports on Lansdowne Secure Unit and Oakhill Secure Training Centre.
If we missed anything, or if you have a report, blog post or news story you would like to share in the next bulletin, please send us an email.
Upcoming events and activities
27 November 2025: NPM Scotland Subgroup Q3 meeting
28 November 2025: NPM All Mandate-Holder Conference, online
9 December 2025: NPM Northern Ireland Subgroup Q3 meeting
External resources of interest
The National Police Chiefs’ Council has published the Children and Young Persons Policing Charter. The Charter was launched in order to set a national standard for engaging with children and young people for police forces across England and Wales. This is an important framework for ensuring police contact with children and young people is fair and centred on their needs. Thanks to ICVA for sharing this resource!
Prison Reform Trust has published new resources to help inform understanding of local trends in the use of imprisonment for women in England and Wales. These factsheets provide information on recent trends in the use of immediate custody for women, regional comparisons and a breakdown of the offence types for which women are sent to prison.
Prison Insider has created a docuseries highlighting the impact of imprisonment on families and loved ones. You can watch all six parts on YouTube.
Thank you for reading!
This bulletin is compiled each month by the NPM Central Team. If you have any news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you would like to provide feedback on this bulletin, share your thoughts here.