The Prevention of Torture Through a National Mechanism 19. The Office of the Ombudsman then had to make an important decision: Gradual deployment of the whether to delay commencement of its programme of inspection visits until its institution complete structure was in place in compliance with the most stringent SBT standards or to deploy in stages, thus visiting a large number of places of deprivation of liberty as soon as possible. In the spirit of the OPCAT and pursuant to the mandate received, it was decided to do the latter and set up an operational unit immediately. 20. On January 19, 2010, in line with the report by the Co-ordination and Internal Structure of the NPM Framework Board [Junta de Coordinación y Régimen Interior], the task of overseeing the Office’s work as an NPM was delegated to the First Assistant to the Ombudsman. A unit with its own organisational structure was also set up under the name “National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM) Unit”. Apart from the personnel assigned exclusively to this unit, it was decided that various specialist areas dealing with investigations of different types of places of deprivation of liberty (the Security and Justice, Health and Social Policy and Migration and Equal Treatment units) should provide backup personnel on the programme of inspection visits. The overall design of the NPM involves setting up an Advisory Council, establishing links with specialists in numerous scientific disciplines with a view to obtaining a more in-depth analysis of certain aspects of the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty and strengthening capabilities for normative analysis. Work on all these issues was undertaken in 2010; some of them are linked to changes in the ROFDP and thus clearly take priority in the future. 21. With a view to substantially increasing the operational capabilities of the NPM, Co-operation with regional at the 25th Seminar for the Co-ordination of Ombudsman, held in the province of ombudsmen has been La Rioja, the acting Ombudsman outlined to her regional counterparts a proposal proposed for a co-operation agreement to involve all their offices in the fulfilment of the remit of the NPM. With this she strove to fulfil the mandate conferred by legislators, which established a single NPM with general competences covering all territories and all types of places of deprivation of liberty, while at the same time increasing the potential number of inspection visits through an advanced co-operation system. The implications of this system for the regional ombudsman are many and varied, and as a result no final decision has yet been made in this regard. 22. The Ombudsman also envisages that co-operation agreements will be Links with specialists in signed with professional institutions and other significant organisations to scientific disciplines establish a formal framework of external technical expert assistance in the tasks of the NPM. The top priority in this regard is to set up a stable framework of co-operation with specialists in forensic medicine, psychiatry and psychology. THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN 19