§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why there were four vacancies on the Board of Visitors at HM Prison Parkhurst at the time of the inspection by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons.
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§ Baroness BlatchThe board complement at HM Prison Parkhurst is 15 and there are currently three vacancies. It is not unusual for boards to have one or two vacancies at any one time and this is taken into account in setting the complement of the board. As these are public appointments, it is desirable for boards to submit to Ministers a choice of candidates. Board Chairmen, therefore, frequently wait until they have two or more vacancies before inviting a number of candidates to interviews. Furthermore, security clearances for candidates can take a couple of months and so there will always be some lapse of time between vacancies occurring and new appointments being made by Ministers.
On the Isle of Wight itself there are two other establishments, HM Prison Camp Hill and HM Prison Albany, which have complements of 16 and 14, respectively. Within a 20-mile radius on the mainland, there are a number of other establishments. Board members are usually required to live within a 20-mile radius of the establishment to which they are appointed because they may need to attend the establishment as a matter of urgency. This makes recruitment on the Isle of Wight particularly difficult. However, steps are being taken to fill the vacancies at Parkhurst as quickly as possible.