Section four Appendices Appendix II Letter from NPM Chair John Wadham to Justice Select Committee Chair, Sir Robert Neill UK National Preventive Mechanism c/o HM Inspectorate of Prisons Clive House, 5th Floor 70 Petty France London SW1H 9EX Tel: 020 3334 0359 E-mail: Anna.Edmundson@hmiprisons.gov.uk 1 August 2018 Dear Mr Neill UK National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) You will remember that last year the NPM submitted written evidence to the Justice Select Committee’s inquiry on prison reform. In that evidence, we raised our concerns about the lack of separate legislation for the UK NPM and, in particular, the need to guarantee the independence of the NPM itself and to recognise the importance of NPM members’ work to prevent ill treatment of detainees under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT). I was therefore grateful that the Justice Committee, in its Report on prison reform (which scrutinised the provisions in Part 1 of the Prisons and Courts Bill), recommended the opportunity should be taken to place the NPM “on a definitive statutory basis, in accordance with the UK’s international obligations as a party to OPCAT” should legislation on prison reform be brought forward. It was disappointing that opportunity was lost when government did not re-introduce such legislation. Nonetheless, the NPM has continued working towards improved recognition of its independence, and I am therefore writing to update you on recent developments that have taken place. The position in relation to enacted legislation remains as it was when the Justice Committee was examining this issue: only two of the 21 members of the NPM (both based in Scotland) have any reference to OPCAT written in to their legislation. As a result, the lack of formal legislative recognition of the independence and OPCAT role of the NPM collectively and of its individual members has remained a key challenge for the NPM. 59