Offender Management Bill

I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Stern for proposing the amendment, which the Government are very willing to consider. However, it is likely to require some drafting changes because its purpose appears to be to give statutory effect to two of the recommendations that came out of Sir Peter Lloyd’s review of boards of visitors in 2001, which were accepted by Ministers at the time. Boards of visitors have been known as independent monitoring boards since 2003, and the amendment would usefully give statutory effect to the change of title. Independent monitoring boards comprise, as I am sure most noble Lords know, unpaid volunteers from the local community, appointed by Ministers to monitor the humane and just treatment of those held in prison. It is a vital role, carried out by dedicated individuals who do not seek, and indeed rarely receive, much recognition for their work. That is not to say that they are not greatly appreciated; they are. The Government greatly value their contribution. It is worth advising the Committee that we are also willing to consider the removal of the statutory requirement that at least two members of the board be magistrates. That might have been needed, as the noble Baroness has said, when the boards had an adjudicatory function in relation to prisoners’ breaches of discipline, but that was removed from boards some 15 years ago, following concerns that it compromised boards’ perceived impartiality. It therefore seems to us no longer necessary to have magistrates on boards as a specific legal requirement, though of course their presence has another validity. I am sure that they will carry on as unpaid volunteers, just as others do. So we are willing to consider the amendment and we shall give statutory effect to the changes, but the amendment will need some minor drafting alterations and we would hope to bring it back at Report.