§ Baroness Gardner of Parkesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can report progress on Lord Woolf's recommendation that there should be a president of boards of visitors.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has been considering the report of a working group which was established to look at this recommendation, together with the representations that have been made to him by interested parties. He has decided against appointing a president of boards of visitors. There is no strong consensus among boards in favour of a president and some concern from them that their local, autonomous and voluntary nature might be compromised by such an appointment. Lord Woolf suggested that a president might develop more effective methods for recruiting new members to boards and give guidance on good practice to be followed by boards, including the provision of training. These areas are already being addressed by my honourable friend the Minister of State in conjunction with the board of visitors' representative bodies and the prison service liaison section for boards of visitors. Consequently, we are not convinced that the appointment of a president is required.
Boards of visitors have served the Crown and the public for many years and, as Lord Woolf pointed out, we have good cause to be grateful to them for the work they do. The many changes that are happening now within the prison service have resulted in boards of visitors being faced with increasing demands upon their time. With this in mind, we have asked that once the prison service agency has had time to adjust to its own new status, consideration should be given to Lord Woolf's other recommendations and conclusions regarding boards of visitors to see whether we can assist boards further in carrying out their important role.