CAT/OP/C/57/4 VI. Looking forward 83. During 2015, the Subcommittee continued to modify and review its working methods and practices as it endeavoured to fulfil its mandate better and increase outreach efficiently. The changes made to date have been promising, having not only increased the Subcommittee’s capacity to engage with States parties, national preventive mechanisms and other stakeholders but having also facilitated the enhancement of the Subcommittee’s responsiveness, adding vigour to its efforts. 84. The plan for Subcommittee visits that has been adopted is quite ambitious. It is nonetheless necessary in order to respond to the increasing number of States parties to the Optional Protocol, and to ensure that the wealth of the Subcommittee members’ expertise is effectively utilized thorough engagement in field activities. 85. The work of the Subcommittee increases substantially every year with the establishment of each new national preventive mechanism and the conduct of each new visit. Each time, such events initiate a separate and parallel series of engagements and dialogues which add to, and stand alongside, those already under way. Thus the Subcommittee’s work grows exponentially each year, but the level of core funded support for the Subcommittee does not increase in line with its workload. The results of the treaty body strengthening process have been disappointing for the Subcommittee. In particular, the Subcommittee had hoped that the request in General Assembly resolution 68/268 for OHCHR to provide advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building for States parties would allow the Subcommittee to provide States parties with advice and technical assistance on the establishment of national preventive mechanisms, as it is mandated to do under article 11 of the Optional Protocol, and with advice on technical aspects of implementing its recommendations in the context of post-visit dialogue.23 The Subcommittee regrets that this has not been the case. As a result, it has been compelled to spend more time in its plenary sessions on such matters, seeking to address that lack of support for in-country activities with videoconferencing when possible. Given that more session time has had to be devoted to such activities, it is necessary for the Subcommittee to seek an increase in its meeting time to accommodate the additional work. While it would rather focus on additional in-country engagement, in the light of the apparent lack of support for such activities, the Subcommittee has decided that it is necessary to seek additional meeting time. The Subcommittee is committed to doing everything necessary to ensure that its work is as effective as possible and will continue to seek to surmount the difficulties it faces. The Subcommittee remains grateful to its secretariat staff for their unstinting assistance and support. A. Future plan of work 86. Despite those challenges, the Subcommittee has adjusted its working methods to accommodate its most ambitious programme of visits to date. Since adopting its previous annual report, it has decided to visit the following countries: Chile, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Mozambique, Niger, Romania, Tunisia and Ukraine, in addition to the visit to Benin, postponed from 2015. The Subcommittee retains flexibility to revisit its programme should it prove necessary for operational or other reasons. 23 See also General Assembly resolution 68/268, para. 26 (d), which refers to the adequate allocation of financial and human resources to those treaty bodies whose main mandated role is to carry out field visits. 17