SNP must reconsider position on ‘invaluable’ Prison Visiting Committees

The Scottish Conservatives will tomorrow morning bring forward a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Prison Visiting Committees. The Committees provide vital and independent service and advice to prisoners but the SNP Government seeks to abolish them.

This is despite a recent Scottish Government consultation launched in 2011 which found that 98% of respondents believed that the Committees should remain.

Annabel Goldie MSP, who is opening the debate tomorrow, said:

"They do something unique. In a captive situation, no matter how well intended, the Scottish Prison Service and Prison Officers, are, as far as prisoners are concerned, part of the system, part of officialdom.

"Many prisoners will feel unable to trust them or to confide in them. The prison visitor on the other hand is something very different. This is a person who is independent, has no axe to grind and is not part of the system

"They should be an irresistible attraction for any government as they provide great value for money because they volunteer their services. The cost of training and operating the scheme is a mere £75,000 a year and for that modest sum they provide a very extensive service.

"Indeed, when the SNP launched a consultation last year 98% of respondents believed that the Committees should remain in place.

"It is astonishing that the SNP want to abolish them for a more costly and ineffective service which is not independent of Government and is almost certainly in violation of EU law. There is a consensus of concern about the SNP's proposals and I would urge the Justice Minister to reconsider his views on the matter."

Motion S4M-01878: Annabel Goldie, West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 31/01/2012

Prison Visiting Committees

That the Parliament notes with concern the Scottish Government's proposals to abolish prison visiting committees and replace them with a prisoner advocacy service; considers that the independent scrutiny of prison conditions through regular, unannounced inspections and the independent examination of prisoner complaints is an important check and balance for the prison system; believes that, as they provide regular external scrutiny, are appointed from the local community and are independent from the Scottish Prison Service, prison visiting committees provide a distinct but complementary role to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons; notes that the Scottish Government's consultation on the independent monitoring of prisons, which was carried out in 2011, did not include proposals for an advocacy service to replace the committees and that 59 out of 60 respondents to the consultation wanted to retain the independent oversight role that it considers the committees fulfil; further notes that, in 2005, a review of the committees recommended that they be re-established as independent monitoring boards and that there should be changes to improve their impact and consistency; understands that, on 22 December 2011, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice said that the cost of running the committees was less than that anticipated for the proposed advocacy service, and believes that prison visiting committees offer excellent value for money, that they should be retained and that the proposed prisoner advocacy service should complement, but not replace, their role.

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