NPM, geographic diversity, logistical issues concerning the size and complexity of the State, factors relating to the preventive monitoring at a regional level, the work of other United Nations mechanisms and agencies and perceptions of the benefit to be derived from undertaking a visit in the year ahead. 99.The Subcommittee hopes that as a result of its innovative and evolving working practices it will become more effective and more efficient in achieving its mandate. Working with NPMs has enabled greater strides to be taken in establishing a continued and constructive preventive dialogue. Furthermore, the ad hoc thematic groups are a means through which issues of importance are highlighted and probed. 100. During 2013, in addition to further developing its jurisprudence, the Subcommittee will focus its attention on systemic issues related to the interaction of the Subcommittee with NPMs, Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, induction and continuous training, reprisals and procedural issues (including difficulties of access to places of detention). B. Laying the f oundations for f uture g rowth and d evelopment 101. This reporting period sees the departure of 5 of the 10 founder members of the Subcommittee elected in October 2006 and who were ineligible for re-election to a further term of office. The Subcommittee wishes to place on record its profound sense of loss at the departure of many of its most experienced members who, with their colleagues, established the Subcommittee and laid the foundations for the creation of the Optional Protocol system. They have all made indelible contributions to the development of the Subcommittee and to its work and their absence will be keenly felt. Departures, however, bring with them the opportunity to welcome new colleagues, and the Subcommittee is looking forward with anticipation to welcoming the six new members elected to it by States parties. 102. At its eighteenth session the Subcommittee reflected on its first six years of experience and noted the growing focus on its work related to NPMs, the growth in requests for participation in intersessional activities, and the need to develop further the pace and range of its own visiting programmes. This reflection was also informed by the realities of the support made available to the Subcommittee by the OHCHR. The Subcommittee wishes to pay tribute to the outstanding level of commitment shown by its secretariat, which is reflected in the astonishing workload which staff bear on the Subcommittee’s behalf. The Subcommittee is gratified to note the desire to expand support for the Subcommittee set out in the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the treaty body strengthening process (A/66/860). Yet the Subcommittee is conscious that it is perfectly obvious that neither the commitment and dedication of the secretariat nor the modest expansion in resourcing as argued for by the High Commissioner can keep pace with the demands which States parties, NPMs and CSOs are rightly placing on the Subcommittee to fulfil its obligations under the Optional Protocol. In 2012 the Subcommittee was able to conduct only two visits under article 11 (a) of its mandate, while having 65 States parties. This suggests a rate of one such visit every 20 years or more. This is not compatible with the spirit of conducting “regular” visits and ongoing dialogue. We wish to visit all State parties on a cycle similar to the reporting cycles of other treaty bodies about every four or five years. This implies a step change in our current workload, and in our levels of support. Effective prevention demands no less. 103. Moreover, each year the work of the Subcommittee increases exponentially. The establishment of each new NPM and the conduct of each new visit set in motion another train of engagement and dialogue which is ongoing and operates in parallel with, rather than as a substitute for, those already under way. The Subcommittee continues to believe that, in addition to the step change in the level of resources, financial and human, which it desperately needs, it is necessary for the Subcommittee to continue to refine its working practices, broadening its range of partners in order to maximize its preventive impact, and to re-evaluate the manner in which it uses those resources which are at its disposal, including the shape, size and scope of its programme of regular visits.