National Preventive Mechanism Sixth Annual Report 2014–15 The UK’s National Preventive Mechanism The UK ratified OPCAT in December 2003 and designated its NPM in March 2009. Designation of the NPM was the responsibility of the UK government and it chose to designate multiple existing bodies rather than create a new, single-body NPM. This took into account the fact that many types of detention in the UK were already subject to monitoring by independent bodies, as envisaged by OPCAT, and the different political, legal and administrative systems in place in the four nations that make up the UK. Designations were made to the NPM in 2009 and 2013, and 20 individual bodies now make up the NPM. England and Wales Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) Care Quality Commission (CQC) Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) Children’s Commissioner for England (CCE) Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) Lay Observers (LO) 10 Scotland Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWCS) Care Inspectorate (CI) Independent Custody Visitors Scotland (ICVS) Northern Ireland Independent Monitoring Boards (Northern Ireland) (IMBNI) Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) Northern Ireland Policing Board Independent Custody Visiting Scheme (NIPBICVS) The bodies which make up the UK NPM monitor different types of detention across the jurisdictions, including prisons, police custody, court custody, customs custody facilities, secure accommodation for children, immigration facilities, mental health and military detention, as follows: