National Preventive Mechanism Sixth Annual Report 2014–15 sponsoring departments to be reviewed and strengthened. It was disappointing that the government did not accept these recommendations. The recruitment of an independent chair for the NPM as the first step in establishing its own board - capable of holding members to account for their work, ensuring appropriate consistency and developing a distinct NPM identity - was delayed because of concern by the Ministry of Justice, the responsible department. Frustrating though these delays were, the UK NPM continued to attract widespread international attention as an example of best practice, and members had much contact with other NPMs and states interested in the UK system. About the time this report is scheduled to be published, in December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly is expected to adopt the Mandela Rules, a timely revision of the 1955 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and a hugely important contemporary statement by the international community about the responsibility to treat prisoners decently and humanely. This document reasserts the importance of independent detention monitoring. It would be a fitting time for the UK to demonstrate that its own arrangements for preventing ill‑treatment of detainees have also continued to develop and meet the new international standards. Nick Hardwick Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 6