§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he will take to encourage persons from ethnic minorities to join the membership of prison boards of visitors.
§ Mr. Peter LloydIn making appointments to a board of visitors, consideration is given to the abilities of the individual candidate to discharge the duties effectively and the desirability of maintaining, so far as possible, a representative balance on the board in terms, for example, of age, sex, and social and ethnic background. No fewer than two members of the board are required to be justices of the peace. The membership of individual boards is reviewed every three years.
Advice on the selection and appointment of new members forms part of the training of chairmen of boards and is also included in the "Notes for the guidance of Chairmen" in the "Handbook for Members of Boards of Visitors", a copy of which is in the Library.
Chairmen are encouraged to seek members from the ethnic minorities wherever possible and to advertise as necessary.
The current ethnic make up of boards is as follows:
Ethnic origin Percentage of members in post on 14 December 1992 Asian 2.52 Black 3.69 White 64.35 Other 0.18 Not known 29.26