§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 24 April,Official Report, column 170, relating to Buckley Hall prison, what were the reasons for determining that a new Prison Service establishment should not be inspected until it had been operational for at least two years; and what was the 315W previous policy for the time taken before a prison faced an inspection under Her Majesty's Inspectorate annual programme of inspections. [28879]
§ Miss WiddecombeThe decision not to inspect new establishments until they have been operational for two years was taken in 1993 by the then chief inspector, who considered that that amount of time was necessary for new establishments to consolidate those aspects of their work which would be under scrutiny by his staff. Before 1993, the decision when to inspect new establishments was taken on the basis of such information as was known about each individual prison.