Appendix 2
Letter to Rt Hon Sir Alan Beith
MP, Chair of the Justice Select Committee, from Rt Hon Chris Grayling
MP, Secretary of State for Justice, 17 December 2014
Recruitment of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
As you know, I am responsible for Her Majesty's Chief
Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, an appointment that
is subject to pre-appointment scrutiny. I am writing to you to
inform you of our plans to recruit a new Chief Inspector. I have
also written to David Ford, the Northern Ireland Justice Minister
and Kenny MacAskill, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in Scotland.
This is a Royal appointment established by the Criminal
Justice Act 1982, as an amendment to the Prison Act 1952. The
appointment is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
The Inspectorate is an independent body which advises
the Government on conditions for, and treatment of, those in prison,
young offender institutions, Secure Training Centres, immigration
detention facilities, police and court custody suites, customs
facilities and military detention. It provides independent scrutiny
of the conditions for, and the treatment of, prisoners and other
detainees promoting the concept of "healthy establishments"
in which staff work effectively to support prisoners and detainees
to reduce reoffending and achieve positive outcomes for those
detained and for the public.
The Chief Inspector has a statutory duty to report
to the Secretary of State on conditions in prisons and the treatment
of prisoners in England and Wales. This includes men's and women's
adult prisons in both the public and private sectors and young
offender institutions. The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality
Act 2006 extended the Chief Inspector's remit to all forms of
immigration detention throughout the UK. The Police and Justice
Act 2006 gave the Chief Inspector the statutory duty to co-operate
with other inspectorates in the criminal justice sector and other
specified bodies. Under these provisions, the Chief Inspector
jointly inspects police and customs custody facilities with Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Other powers enable the Chief Inspector to inspect
court custody, Secure Training Centres jointly with Ofsted and
prisons in Northern Ireland at the invitation of the Criminal
Justice Chief Inspector for Northern Ireland. By invitation, they
may conduct inspections outside the United Kingdom and in other
detention settings.
The Chief Inspector is responsible for determining
how the work of the Inspectorate can best be organised to provide
sufficient coverage of all places of detention within a reasonable
cycle, while ensuring that focus on developing or acute areas
of concern is not lost. The Chief Inspector develops this inspection
framework and programme in consultation with the Secretary of
State and others specified by statute. They then lead teams of
inspectors, research and support staff in carrying out this work.
Currently the majority of inspections are full and
unannounced, assessing progress made since previous inspections
and undertaking in-depth analysis. Inspections currently total
about 100 a year. Prisons are inspected at least once every five
years but on average every two to three years. Other types of
custodial sectors have different inspection cycles. Inspectors
have unrestricted access to prisoners, staff, records and all
areas of an establishment during an inspection. Thematic reviews
of service wide issues are also carried out. All reports are published
at the Chief Inspector's discretion.
The Chief Inspector works with other Inspectorates
to deliver joint programmes and minimise inspection burdens. In
relation to inspection of places of custody, they work in partnership
with Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and their equivalents
in Wales and Northern Ireland, under agreed Protocols. The Chief
Inspector also works closely with the Chief Inspectors of the
other three Criminal Justice Inspectorates to deliver an enhanced
programme of joint inspection of the criminal justice system,
agreed with Ministers, examining end to end processes that span
two or more of the criminal justice agencies. Previous joint inspections
in which the Inspectorate has been involved have included life
sentence prisoners, restorative justice and transition from youth
to adult services.
The Chief Inspector also leads on coordinating for
the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) required under the Optional
Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). The NPM
has to ensure independent and regular inspection of all places
of detention. The Inspectorate has a track record in assisting
inspections in overseas jurisdictions ranging from Albania, to
Jamaica. At the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
the Chief Inspector has been engaged in a major project to develop
an independent prisons inspectorate in Bahrain.
The Chief Inspector is responsible for:
· Developing and publishing a robust, rigorous
and fully consulted inspection methodology and standards against
which prisons, immigration detention facilities and other places
of custody are inspected;
· Delivery of an inspection programme to
assess the extent to which prisons immigration detention facilities
and other places of custody are meeting those standards and also
examining particular themes across the prison and immigration
detention estate;
· Production of inspection reports including
findings and recommendations;
· Providing clear and visible leadership
to a team of about 70 full-time and associate staff and manage
a tight budget against competing priorities;
· Building effective working partnerships
with inspectorates and agencies to support well-rounded, informed
inspection of prisons, immigration detention, and other places
of custody and the coherence of the criminal justice system;
· Coordinating the UK's National Preventive
Mechanism under OPCAT.
Candidates will be able to demonstrate the following
essential criteria:
· Ability to lead a multi—disciplinary
team, including professional staff, at the highest level;
· A successful track record in managing
and leading a complex organisation, driving continuous improvement
in a challenging environment. Strong organisational skills and
positive evidence of successfully managing limited resources and
evaluating competing priorities;
· Ability to carry out a demanding workload
in a challenging environment, and be at ease with a variety of
stakeholders including prisoners, prison staff, senior managers
and politicians;
· Highly developed inter-personal and communication
skills, including evidence of using a variety of communication
methods and a proven ability to handle the media, along with the
ability to build and maintain successful working relationships
and partnerships and to deliver difficult and challenging messages;
· An ability to process and interpret complex
information and to offer well-developed analytical reasoning skills
and grounded judgment based on evidence.
The following criteria although not essential will
be taken into account by the selection panel;
· Strong understanding of the penal system
and the broad reforms to the criminal justice landscape including
the current transformation of offender management services.
The proposed Selection panel for this competition:
· Dame Anne Pringle, the selection panel
chair nominated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments;
· Antonia Romeo, Ministry of Justice Director
General, Criminal Justice;
· Lord Henley as the independent member
of the selection panel;
· Amanda Sater, a member of the Youth Justice
Board and as the second independent member of the panel.
The advert and candidate information packs for this
campaign will make clear that applications are particularly welcome
from under represented groups.
Subject to receiving Select Committee and devolved
government comments the intention is to advertise during January
2015, sift and interview in February and put the name of the preferred
candidate to the Select Committee in March.
I would like to see the advertising start in early
January, and would therefore be grateful if you could provide
a response early in the New Year.
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