Section one Context In the short-term, members have agreed a number of measures to develop the NPM’s work. To strengthen the NPM’s governance members intend to appoint an external chair to its Steering Group. To raise the profile of its work in preventing ill-treatment in detention, the NPM will improve its external communications and establish a self-standing website. And as with the work on solitary confinement and isolation, the NPM will focus its work on a small number of key issues that are common to most members as a way to strengthen its impact. Over the next five years I hope that the NPM’s work will be developed further, its powers strengthened, the cooperation and coordination between members improved, and detainees – wherever they are held – will be better protected from ill-treatment. In this way I believe the UK’s long tradition of work in this area will continue to be an example that others will wish to follow. Five years after its designation, the NPM is well established and the powers and responsibilities afforded by OPCAT have been integrated by members to strengthen their reach, expertise and independence. However, this is only the first stage. Nick Hardwick Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 7