§ Mr. Charles Irvingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) for what reasons he decided not to reappoint the Advisory Council on the Penal System;
(2) from what source he proposes to obtain the independent advice on penal policy which he would otherwise have obtained from a re-established Advisory Council on the Penal System.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe future of the Advisory Council on the Penal System was considered in the course of the Government's recent review of all non-departmental bodies. The advisory council had then been in abeyance for nearly two years. Its deliberations and the public debates which have been prompted by its reports have made an invaluable and lasting contribution to the development of penal policy. However, its functions in practice had not been to act as a standing body providing a continuing oversight of the penal system but rather to provide a way of obtaining outside advice on particular issues of penal policy. I therefore decided that a better way to ensure that the Home Office receives the outside advice it requires, without imposing too heavy a burden on certain individuals, would be to establish14W ad hoc committees. I shall, as and when the need arises, appoint groups of individuals with special knowledge of or interest in particular aspects of penal policy to consider specific issues, without requiring them to assume an indefinite commitment.