National Preventive Mechanism Eleventh Annual Report 2019–20 The UK’s National Preventive Mechanism The UK ratified OPCAT in December 2003 and designated a number of organisations to form the UK NPM in March 2009. Designation was the sole responsibility of the UK government and it chose to designate multiple existing bodies rather than create a new, single-body NPM. This decision 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. The members of the NPM were designated by ministerial statement to Parliament but without any specific legislative underpinning, a fact which has been strongly criticised by the United Nations.4 There are now 21 bodies designated to the NPM; the most recent designation was for the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation on 12 January 2017.5 Scotland Care Inspectorate (CI) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) Independent Custody Visiting Scotland (ICVS) Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWCS) Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) 4 5 8 Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) Independent Monitoring Boards (Northern Ireland) (IMBNI) Northern Ireland Policing Board Independent Custody Visiting Scheme (NIPBICVS) Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) England and Wales Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Care Quality Commission (CQC) Children’s Commissioner for England (CCE) Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) Lay Observers (LO) Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) United Kingdom Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation (IRTL) Letter to John Wadham from Head of SPT European Regional Team, January 2018, https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/npmprod-storage-19n0nag2nk8xk/uploads/2019/01/2.-2018.01.29-reply-to-the-NPM-of-UK-copy-002.pdf [accessed 14/01/2019] Further information on the process of designation and a link to the Written Ministerial Statement can be found on the website of the NPM at https://www.nationalpreventivemechanism.org.uk/about/background/ [accessed 08/01/2020].