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NPM Bulletin – September 2026

Published:

Welcome

Welcome to the UK NPM’s September bulletin. We hope you had a lovely summer, and managed to enjoy some of the remarkably hot weather!

At the beginning of August, the team welcomed Nikki Robinson as the new Head of Secretariat! We are very excited to have Nikki with us and look forward to working together. Nikki says:

“…Having attended the Annual UK NPM Conference earlier this year, I was struck by the commitment, enthusiasm and expertise demonstrated across the NPM…I look forward to building on the work of my predecessors, supporting and showcasing the impressive work of NPM bodies across the four nations, and strengthening the collaboration that enables us to maximise our collective impact.”

We also wish to extend our thanks to Martin Kettle for his expert guidance, kindness and good humour during his time as interim Head of Secretariat, and look forward to bumping into him at the HMIP offices in the future!

Jane attended a training session for NPMs, organised under a joint EU-Council of Europe project supporting the European NPM Forum in June. The two-day workshop focussed on the procedural rights of pre-trial detainees, and material detention conditions. It was a brilliant opportunity to meet colleagues from other NPMs, learn about the many different approaches to visits, recommendations, and even annual reports, and to look in detail at minimum standards and the practicalities underpinning them. Jane will be sharing learning from this workshop in an upcoming blog.

The CoE Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has published their long-awaited report on findings from a June 2025 visit to Scotland. The visit focused on the treatment of men, women and children in prisons, police custody and secure care. While we were pleased to see so many examples of positive practice recognised by the CPT, many concerns reported by UK NPM bodies were echoed in the report, repeating recommendations made in visits in 2018 and 2019. Read the full statement on our website.

We want to thank all NPM body representatives who have taken the time to read through and share their very helpful comments on our draft Annual Report. We are now in the process of amending the draft, and will recirculate the report very soon for a final fact-check. While always an immense task, bringing together the year’s findings from all 21 NPM bodies into a single report really shows the impressive breadth and depth of our collective work.

The team is also now preparing for the second all mandate-holder conference, taking place in November! Building on feedback from last year’s conference, we are working on an informative and engaging agenda that we hope to share very soon. We encourage staff and volunteers from UK NPM organisations to register for the conference, which will bring together as many of us working to prevent ill treatment in places of deprivation of liberty as possible. If you are a staff member or volunteer from a UK NPM organisation and have not received a registration link, please get in touch with us.

We encourage you to share this bulletin with your staff, volunteers and any other interested colleagues, 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, you can subscribe here.

With best wishes,

Nikki, Jane, Chelsea and Sarah

The UK NPM Secretariat Team

National Subgroups

The Scotland Subgroup met in Glasgow on 10 September. The Subgroup was joined by colleagues from Police Scotland and the NHS in order to engage in constructive conversation around the systemic challenges that are affecting people suffering mental ill health in police custody.

The Northern Ireland Subgroup met in Belfast on 1 September, which signalled Rachel Lindsay’s last meeting as Subgroup Chair. The meeting discussed next steps following the successful expert roundtable on Personality Disorder in June, and moved forward with work on data on serious incidents, and prisoners over tariff. The Subgroup is very pleased to welcome Muireann Bohill (CJI) as the new Chair of the NPM Northern Ireland Subgroup.

(L-R) Nikki Robinson, Head of UK NPM Secretariat, Acting Chief Inspector James Corrigan (CJI), Rachel Lindsay, Inspector (CJI) and UK NPM Chair

Blog: Suicide Prevention

Marking World Suicide Prevention Day, our latest blog explores why suicide prevention in places of deprivation of liberty must be treated as a systemic and institutional responsibility, not just an individual one. It looks at recurring risk factors across settings, presents a snapshot of the latest available data, and highlights examples of good practice already underway. Read on our website.

Using the Reporting Dashboard

Quarterly Analysis

The quarterly analysis for Q1 2026/27 has been published! These documents now take a more visual approach for easy understanding. The published document includes setting-specific overviews of top thematic areas of concern and good practice over the last quarter.

Did you know we are continually making changes to our Reporting Dashboard?!

On 20 August, we celebrated 1 year since the launch of our Reporting Dashboard! Over the past year it has been really encouraging to hear such positive feedback from so many of you, and we hope that the dashboard has been a useful tool for those who have used it. We are always looking for ways to improve the dashboard, and Sarah is now undertaking the first review of the tool. If you have any feedback you wish to share on the dashboard, including how it might be improved,  please contact Sarah.

For anyone who would like to learn more, you can watch this instructional video, which walks you through some examples of how to use the Reporting Dashboard.

Please let us know how you are using the dashboard by sending us an email.

Spotlight reports from NPM bodies

Independent Custody Visiting Association – Immigration Detainees in Police Custody

This report is the culmination of over two years of work and collaboration between ICVA and the IMB, the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees, Independent Custody Visiting schemes, and partners across policing, immigration enforcement, inspection and oversight. The report responds to concerns about the experiences of people detained under immigration powers in police custody, and highlights that immigration detainees appear to spend longer in police custody, with an average detention time of over 20 hours in the pilot, and over a third detained for over 24 hours. The report also notes gaps in data recording and the inconsistent use of interpreters and delays relating to immigration processes. The report makes recommendations for a range of organisations and reflects a growing commitment across agencies to better understand and improve the experience of immigration detainees in police custody.

Read here: Immigration Detainees in Police Custody

HM Inspectorate of Prisons in Scotland – Report on a Full Inspection of HMP Low Moss

HMIPS’ inspection of HMP Low Moss found that overcrowding was placing a significant strain on prisoner care, rehabilitation, staff wellbeing and day-to-day operations. Inspectors found delays in social work assessments and rehabilitative programmes, limited access to education and reliance on overtime and temporary staffing arrangements. However, the report also recognises strengths in reception, accommodation, cleanliness, healthcare leadership, peer support and family engagement.

Read here: Full Inspection Report on HMP Low Moss

Latest news from NPM bodies

  • People news:
    • CJI bid farewell to Chief Inspector Jacqui Durkin at the end of June, who has been appointed as the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. James Corrigan is Acting Chief Inspector, and Meloney McVeigh is Acting Chief Executive Officer/Deputy Chief Inspector. The Secretariat extends its thanks to Jacqui for all her support during her time as Chief Inspector!
    • HMIPS welcomed Viktoria Eriksson, a new Senior Researcher.
  • CJI attended a roundtable session hosted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) where the issues impacting women in detention, as well as broader issues affecting women and girls in places of detention or in conflict with the law were discussed. This roundtable assisted NIHRC in developing its List of Issues for its submission to the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee.
  • HIW has published their latest bulletin focusing on Welsh language in healthcare, as well as inspection reports on mental health services at Royal Glamorgan Hospital and University Hospital Llandough.
  • HIW are also recruiting for Second Opinion Appointed Doctors and Peer Reviewers – part-time/self-employed roles for healthcare professionals. 
  • HMICS has published its Annual Report for 2025/26, which gives an overview of its three published inspections of police custody. The report notes continuing concerns regarding inconsistent decision-making, especially when resources are stretched, and instances where persons detained in custody are held for considerably longer periods than necessary.
  • HMIP has published several inspection reports, including a new thematic on women’s experiences of immigration detention, and its Annual Report for 2025/26.
  • HMIP have also published two blogs. The first, co-authored by previous interim Head of Secretariat Martin Kettle, highlights promising findings at HMP Wayland in fair treatment and inclusion, while the second explores how intense and prolonged heatwaves are affecting prisoners, staff and the prisons themselves.
  • HMIPS has published an inspection report on an HMP Low Moss, as well as completing inspections of HMP Edinburgh and multiple of court custody units.
  • HMIPS also presented to the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee on Scotland’s prisons in its inaugural session. Read HM Chief Inspector Sara Snell and Jacqueline Clinton’s (then Thematic Lead Inspector) intervention on the Scottish Parliament website.
  • As well as its new report on Immigration Detainees in Police Custody, ICVA also published its Annual Report for 2025/26.
  • ICVA also launched a great new animation series earlier in the summer which highlights the role of an independent custody visitor. We would encourage all custody visitors to watch the videos, which can be found on ICVA’s resources page.
  • ICVS has published its Annual Report for 2025/26, noting seven key areas of observation: vulnerabilities, children in custody, staffing and resources, complaints process, medical provision, anti-ligature practices and police custody estate and supplies.
  • IMB has published several annual monitoring reports. Interim National Chair, Jane Leech, also wrote to the Minister for Border Security and Asylum raising concerns around Operation Hillmore, including the detention of children and vulnerable people, access to legal support and prolonged detention.
  • MWCS has published several local inspection reports, including for HMP Greenock, as well as its Annual Report for 2025/26 which found that services continue to face sustained pressure from staffing shortages, rising demand and fragmented resources. Despite the challenges, progress continues.
  • MWCS also continues work on developing a national monitoring framework for restrictive practices in Scottish mental health services, complementary to the Scottish Government’s consultation on revisions to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice, which envisages MWCS undertaking national reporting on restraint and seclusion in inpatient mental health units.
  • Ofsted has published an inspection report on Clare Lodge, Lincolnshire Secure Unit, Oakhill Secure Training Centre and Adel Beck Secure Children’s Home.
  • CYCPS, an associate member of the UK NPM’s Scotland Subgroup, published a report on an investigation into police use of force against children. The report worryingly details that vital data gaps exist

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

13 November: All Mandate-Holder Conference 2026

External resources of interest

The report of the independent review of deaths among care-experienced young adults in England has been published. It describes the findings from an analysis of 18–24-year-olds who had previously been in care and who suffered early deaths. The report covers distressing topics such as death, suicide and self-harm.

Prison Reform Trust has published two reports on key working, progression and policy in prisons in England and Wales and resetting the approach to women’s imprisonment.

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced in the House of Lords in July, having completed its remaining stages in the House of Commons. The Bill seeks to promote accountability, candour and openness among public authorities and officials and forms part of the response to the Infected Blood and Hillsborough inquiries. Its scope may include NPM bodies, which may receive further guidance from their sponsor departments as preparations for implementation develop.

Thank you for reading!

This bulletin is compiled each month by the NPM Secretariat. If you have any news you would like to share, or would like to provide feedback, please get in touch via email or LinkedIn.