• 94. The report was introduced by the representative of the State party who stated that his Government, in preparing its initial report, had tried to explain as fully as possible the range of legal provisions and other measures through which the United Kingdom sought to meet its obligations under the Convention. That had not been an entirely straightforward task given that the United Kingdom comprised what was in effect three separate jurisdictions England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom took its obligations under the Convention seriously and where it had been found that further measures were needed to improve the protection of rights, legislation and procedures had been revised and amended accordingly. 95. Referring to recently enacted legislation, the representative informed the Committee that the Criminal Justice Act 1988 had added to United Kingdom law by creating a specific offence of torture based on the definition of torture contained in the Convention. The United Kingdom had also ratified the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which had entered into force in February 1989. The Police and Criminal Legislation Act 1984 which dealt with police powers, the rights of persons in police detention, police discipline and complaints against the police had also been regularly reviewed and revised since being enacted. The four codes of practice in connection with police powers which had come into force under the Act had been reviewed and revised in April 1991, thus strengthening the safeguards of persons in police detention. A code governing the tape-recording of police interviews had also been issued. 96. In addition, the Government had recently published a White Paper setting out a programme of changes in prisons. The White Paper accepted the central proposition of a report prepared by Lord Justice Woolf, following serious disturbances in six prisons in England and Wales in 1990, that security and control had to be balanced with justice and humanity. The reforms in the penitentiary system to which the Government attached particular importance were the ending, by late 1994, of the practice of "slopping out" because of the absence of integral sanitation in cells; a code of standards for accommodation, programmes and facilities to be provided in all prisons; and the appointment of an independent complaints adjudicator by the end of 1992. 0 a 9 i P a h a: ml w. I Ne 9! rl aJ CE 81 a cc hi 48 le 10 ar le in Un no: be so: prl COl Inl ill 97. The representative also stated that terrorism continued to be a real threat in the United Kingdom and especially in Northern Ireland. While it was still necessary to keep in place exceptional measures contained in the Prevention of Terrorism Act and in the Northern Ireland Emergency Provisions Act, there were valuable safeguards, such as the annual debate .in Parliament on the renewal of the measures, following an annual review of the legislation by an independent reviewer. New safeguards had been proposed, in particular, for the questioning of terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland. In addition, the Northern Ireland "Guide to Emergency Powers" which set out the rules regulating conditions of detention, was soon to be replaced by a statutory Code of Practice. This Code would be admissible in civil and criminal proceedings governing the detention, treatment, questioning and identification by police officers of persons detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The Government was also considering the appointment of an independent commissioner to monitor procedures at holding centres, with the right to visit those centres at any time of his or her choosing. The Commissioner's main task would be to ensure that the proper procedures relating to the treatment -20Digitized by Dag Hammarskjöld Library Ho] COl PoJ of of leg and by not int ill 101 the sig art. con) tori