Welcome

Happy New Year! We are so pleased to be sending the first NPM bulletin of 2025. There is much I am looking forward to in the coming year, including the NPM Annual Conference from 30 April to 1 May, the completion of our 2023-25 business plan and launch of a new business plan containing many exciting and impactful initiatives, and the launch of a new recommendations database to bring even more visibility to the important scrutiny work being conducted by NPM bodies.

We have hit the ground running following the break, submitting a response to the sentencing review in England and Wales, holding an all-nations meeting on illegal children’s homes, and taking part in a media training session alongside NPM Chair Sherry Ralph and other NPM staff. The recommendations database is currently being built by a team of developers, with user testing planned for mid-March. In the coming month, I am looking forward to working with several international NPMs to support their development and upskilling and am finalising the next business plan to present to the Steering Group in February. Jane is leading work on illegal children’s homes, working on relevant consultation responses, and will be conducting interviews with people detained at Colnbrook immigration removal centre next week. In addition to leading our communications activities, Chelsea is currently coordinating a strategic planning process with the Scotland Subgroup and working on a research project on deaths in prison custody in Scotland.

We are looking forward to our new Support Officer joining the Central Team in a few weeks’ time and will introduce her properly in due course.

As always, we invite you to please cascade this bulletin to your staff and volunteers so that they can stay current on the latest NPM news. If you have received a forwarded copy of this bulletin and would like to be added to the subscription list, please reply to this email.

With optimism for the year ahead,

Sam Gluckstein, Head of UK NPM

A small group of staff from the Central Team and NPM bodies attended spokesperson media training on 14 January

National Subgroups

The Scotland Subgroup will meet on 4 March for its Q1 meeting and a strategic planning session to develop our 2025-26 workplan in tandem with the national NPM business plan. Sam and Angela O’Hagan met with Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs Angela Constance, to discuss concerns raised in the NPM-SHRC joint report, Review…Recommend…Repeat… An assessment of where human rights have stalled in places of detention.

The Northern Ireland Subgroup met on 12 December and agreed an approach to the two key issues of personality disorder in detention, and information sharing on deaths and serious adverse incidents in detention. A meeting with the Departments of Health and Justice is being arranged to develop this work and fill gaps in existing information provision. There has been keen engagement from the Department of Health on the NPM annual report.

Blog: Recruiting dedicated Independent Prison Monitors

Dedicated volunteers carry out preventive monitoring each week across the UK. This month, Vilma Kirvelaite from HMIPS tells us how the Independent Prison Monitoring team have revamped their volunteer recruitment to attract dedicated independent prison monitors. Read the blog (and please share!) to spread the word about the important work being done by our volunteers!

Ewan MacKenzie of HMIPS also shared this recent article which may be of interest to NPM staff and volunteers: ‘Keeps me grateful’: how volunteering can help older adults.

International Update

Sam will be leading development and upskilling sessions with two countries who have ratified OPCAT and are developing their NPMs. First, he will meet with officials from Kyrgyzstan to plan an NPM development program in conjunction with OHCHR. Later this month, he will lead a session in Brussels to support the establishment of the Belgian NPM. Belgium is the second last nation in Europe to establish an NPM.

Follow us on Bluesky and LinkedIn!

A quick reminder to that the UK NPM has launched Bluesky and LinkedIn accounts – we invite you to follow us!

Spotlight reports from NPM bodies

Children’s Commissioner for England – Report on Illegal Children’s Homes

The CCE has published a report on illegal children’s homes, finding that the number of unregistered homes is increasing. The report used local authority data to establish how many children are placed in unregistered accommodation and how much these placements are costing. Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said that the report “provides stark evidence to what I have long been concerned about: children in places that are largely extremely high cost and poor quality.”

Read the full report: Illegal Children’s Homes

IMB NI Annual Reports 2023-24

IMB Northern Ireland have published 2023-24 Annual Reports for Magilligan Prison, Maghaberry Prison, and Hydebank Wood College and Women’s Prison, highlighting key findings, including concerns and best practices.

Read the full reports: Independent Monitoring Board NI Publications 2024

HMIPS – “Planned Failure”: A Thematic Report on Prisoner Transport in Scotland

HMIPS has published an in-depth examination of the prisoner transport service in Scotland, through the lens of respect and protection for human rights. “Planned failure” refers to the frequent, at times daily, occurrence in which the prisoner transport provider states that they will be unable to undertake an escort that has been previously booked, affecting the health, wellbeing and family relationships of prisoners as well as the justice system.

Read the full report: “Planned Failure”: A Thematic Report on Prisoner Transport in Scotland

Latest news from NPM bodies

• People news:
  • Sara Snell will take up her post as the new HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Scotland on 3 February 2025
  • HMIPS have also welcomed a new modern apprentice, Matthew Bryce to the team, as their Business and Administration officer.
• The Care Inspectorate have revised both their Matching and Admissions Guidance and Protocol for use of  the emergency bedroom in secure accommodation services, following the implementation of sections of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024.
• CCE have published a report on illegal children’s homes, as well as their Help at Hand annual report 2023-2024.
• CJI and RQIA presented emerging findings to the PSNI of the Follow-up Review of the 2020 inspection of Police Custody. The final report is underway.
• CJI are consulting with inspected organisations about an alternative process for assessing progress against recommendations made in inspection reports, which will be piloted in due course. CJI also hosted a meeting of the NI Regulation and Oversight Forum in January 2025. Chief Inspector Jacqui Durkin is currently holding consultation meetings with stakeholders and inspected organisations to develop an inspection programme for 2025-26.
• CQC published an article on Medium: CQC’s Independent Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews — Making a difference
• HMICFRS published a Report on an inspection visit to police custody suites in Gwent Police, conducted jointly with HIW, focusing particularly on children and vulnerable adults. Key concerns included governance, managing and overseeing custody services, and overseeing the use of force, risk management and mental health.
• HMIP Chief Inspector of PrisonsCharlie Taylor has called for urgent action to tackle drones bringing drugs and weapons into prisons holding some of the most dangerous men in the country, including terrorists and organised crime bosses.
• HMIPS published “Planned Failure”: A Thematic Report on Prisoner Transport in Scotland and will publish their full inspection report for HMP Dumfries on 16 January. They also met with NPM colleagues from Northern Ireland to share best practices following their recent successes in increasing volunteer numbers (see this month’s NPM blog for more on this)
• ICVA CEO Sherry Ralph posted an end of year blog
• ICVS received an outstanding external partner award from Police Scotland.

From left to right: ICVS West Coordinator, Strategy Research, Policy and Performance Advisor, ICVS East Coordinator, ICV visitor, ICV Visitor, ICVS National Manager

• IMB has published several 2023-24 annual reports, including for Scotland and Northern Ireland STHF, HMP Littlehey, Wetherby YOI, HMP Bullingdon and more. 
• MWCS published an Inspection Report for HMP Grampian, highlighting serious adverse impacts of long-term staffing shortages in the mental health nursing team. They also published their Mental Health Act Monitoring Statistical Report 2023-24, and an Inspection report of the State Hospital.
• OFSTED published an inspection report on Lincolnshire secure children’s home.
• SHRC published their first State of the Nation report on human rights, examining the state of civil and political rights in Scotland. The report was presented to the Scottish Parliament on Human Rights Day, 10^th December 2024. Two key findings were that:
  • Access to justice remains challenging in Scotland due to a complex and costly legal system.
  • The prison system in Scotland is straining beyond capacity with significant risks for people’s safety, dignity and right to life.
• SHRC also presented to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Parliamentary Committee on 14 January. 

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.

Training and external reports of interest

This month, we invite you to look at two United Nations guides of interest:

• Preventing Torture: The Role of National Preventive Mechanisms – A Practical Guide (2018)
• Reporting under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment – Training Guide (Part I – Manual) (2024)

On 20 February, Professor Mary Bosworth will deliver a lecture on her new book, Supply chain justice: the logistics of British border control. Learn more or register for the lecture.

Upcoming events and activities

17 Feb: Steering Group meeting, Online
4 March: NPM Scotland Subgroup meeting, Glasgow/Online

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.

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