28 National dialogue The NPM focuses on collaboration with a broad range of national stakeholders in performing its mandate effectively. The NPM is in continuous contact with responsible authorities and other stakeholders with the power to effect change centrally, regionally and locally. Supervisory bodies like the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision, the county governors, prison supervisory councils and psychiatric health care control commissions are important in this context. So too are the trade unions representing those who work at places of detention and the educational institutions which train the largest professional groups. In many cases, raising awareness of risk factors and the steps which can be taken to address these helps to reduce the risk of torture and ill-treatment. Stakeholder organisations and bodies with special expertise in working with vulnerable groups such as children and persons with disabilities, mental health and human rights also play a key role in prevention efforts. Meetings with the authorities Broad dissemination of knowledge of the mandate and work of the NPM may in itself have a preventive effect. During the establishment phase, the NPM held dialogue meetings with the authorities that are responsible for places where persons may be deprived of their liberty in Norway. The dialogue meetings with responsible ministries and subordinate agencies took place primarily in the spring and summer of 2014. At these meetings, the NPM presented its mandate and its activity plan for 2014. The meetings also provided an opportunity to discuss challenges in different sectors and to gather information on applicable rules, guidelines, instructions and circulars. The responsible ministries and subordinate agencies were informed of announced visits in advance, and received the visit reports following each visit. Norway’s National Preventive Mechanism – Annual Report 2014 The NPM also met with and gathered information from supervisory mechanisms such as the county governors, the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision, the central supervisory committee for police custody facilities, the supervisory councils for prisons in the southern and eastern regions and the psychiatric health care control commission for, among others, Dikemark regional secure treatment facility. Information was also obtained from the supervisory councils for prisons in the western and northern Norway regions prior to the visits made to these two regions. The NPM also met the Ombudsman for Children, the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, the Parliamentary Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, the Judge Advocate General of the Norwegian Armed Forces, the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs and the Children’s House Oslo. The meetings were important in helping to establish an overview of places of detention in Norway. The NPM received valuable information about the institutions in the different sectors, special challenges facing the institutions, supervisory mechanisms and internal control procedures. Civil society The exchange of information between civil society and the NPM lays the foundation for important and productive discussions concerning conditions for persons deprived of their liberty, and it promotes greater transparency about these. Civil society helps to hold public authorities accountable, and is therefore also important stakeholder in prevention efforts. As well as establishing an advisory committee composed of representatives from civil society, the NPM has used other formal and informal meetings to obtain advice and input from the professional groups involved, academia, rights organisations and organisations representing users and relatives.