The Report follows a pre-appointment scrutiny hearing which the Committee held on Tuesday 24 November with Mr Peter Clarke, the Secretary of State's preferred candidate for HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Glenys Stacey, the preferred candidate for HM Chief Inspector of Probation.
The current incumbent of the post of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, is stepping down at the end of her second period of office. Mr Nicholas Hardwick, the founding Chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Authority is the preferred candidate for the post, put forward by the Justice Secretary. The Committee fully endorses the suitability of Mr Hardwick for this appointment.
This report follows the Committee's second opportunity to conduct a pre-appointment hearing with the Government's preferred candidate for an important post; in this case that of HM Chief Inspector of Probation. The Secretary of State's preferred candidate for the post was Diana Fulbrook OBE and the Committee held a pre-appointment hearing with her on 11 May 2011. Whilst the Committee was impressed by the candidate's experience they also had some reservations in relation to the importance of reducing re-offending and the need for the Chief Inspector to be a driver for change within the probation system. They were not able to give approval to the appointment of the preferred candidate and recommended that the recruitment process be re-opened
The Justice Committee held a pre-appoointment hearing with the preferred candidate, Mr Paul McDowell. This report contains the oral evidence from that meeting and the Committee approves his appointment. The report also contains correspondence between the Chair of the Committee and the Secretary of State, the job advertisement, the person specification used in the recruitment process, and Mr McDowell's curriculum vitae.
The chairmanship of the Office for Legal Complaints is one of the posts which are subject to (non-binding) pre-appointment scrutiny by select committees. Elizabeth France was recruited to the position on 10 October 2008, and the Justice Committee took oral evidence from her on 21 October.
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The JAC was created in April 2006 following provisions in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The JAC was intended to ensure independence and transparency in the judicial appointments process by making recommendations to the Lord Chancellor based on fair and open competition. The JAC makes recommendations for all judicial post-holders except lay magistrates and supreme court judges. The Ministry of Justice informed the Committee on 10 January that the Secretary of State's preferred candidate for the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission was Christopher Stephens. The Committee endorses Mr Stephens' suitability for the position of Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission. It thought that Mr Stephens' experience in the commercial sector was particularly relevant to ensuring that the JAC is an efficient organisation. It also values his experience in making appointments in the civil service but welcome his recognition that judicial appointments have special and different requirements.
This report considers the experience of some three years of holding 'pre-appointment' hearings by select committees to examine the 'preferred candidate' for certain public appointments before that appointment is confirmed. Whilst the committee considers the experiment a success they do recommend a number of changes. They propose a three tier list: Posts in the first tier are those considered to be of sufficient constitutional significance as to require a process which is effectively a joint appointment by Government and the House of Commons. Posts in the second tier are those which the committee proposes should be subject to an enhanced an improved version of the current process, and which should be subject to an 'effective veto' by the House of Commons or its committees. For posts in the third tier, pre-appointment hearings should be at the discretion of committees.
This is the Committee's first major inquiry on prisons planning and policies in this Parliament, and it has provided an opportunity to consider the impact of the Government's programme of reforms and efficiency savings across the prison estate. These policies have been implemented alongside the creation of working prisons and resettlement prisons, designed to improve the effectiveness of the prison estate in increasing employability and reducing re-offending, as well as the tightening of operational policies on earned privileges and temporary release in order to improve their public credibility. They have also come at a time when the total prison population has returned to very high levels. The Committee expresses concern that despite the Government's efforts to supply sufficient prison places to meet demand, the proportion of prisons that are overcrowded is growing, and the proportion of prisoners held in crowded conditions remains at almost a quarter, with consequent effects on the ability to maintain constructive regimes. The Committee welcomes the reduction which has taken place in the cost of a prison place, although the Committee notes that it remains high, and is unlikely to fall significantly while the pressures on estate capacity remain at current levels
