RRN comment on 15th annual report of NPM

The RRN welcomes the publication of the 15^th annual report of the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). The report has an important role to play in scrutinising practices of the settings in which people are detained across the UK.

Established in March 2009 after the UK ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), the NPM comprises 21 bodies across the UK who monitor the conditions under which children, young people and adults are detained in settings including secure children’s homes, mental health settings and prisons.

The report makes for disheartening reading, highlighting continuing systemic issues impacting settings, despite the many skilled, committed individuals working across sectors.

The NPM report identifies a series of concerns including conditions of detention in some settings giving rise to an increased risk of inappropriate or excessive restrictive practices i.e.  chronic overcrowding, poor living conditions, lack of purposeful regimes and poor communication. It expresses particular concern over the use of solitary confinement of children. 

The report highlights recruitment and retention as key challenges across all sectors and identifies poor workplace culture as a particular concern in inpatient mental health services. The report further highlights inconsistencies in compliance with mandatory training, particularly in areas such as conflict de-escalation and the use of force.

The RRN is concerned with the findings of the report, showing little progress in improving the conditions and care of people who are detained. We commend the report’s focus on human rights-based approaches to reducing the misuse of restrictive practices and share its recognition of improved training and support for staff as key to delivering safer services for those detained and those charged with educating, caring, treating or supporting them.

More must be done to uphold the human rights of those detained and reduce the use of restrictive practices across settings. The adoption of systemic approaches to improving culture and conditions, such as the Six Core Strategies of restraint reduction, are essential for positive change. However, wider changes in national policy will be crucial and the new Labour government must take steps to ensure policy drives improvements and better protection to people’s human rights, not least the upcoming changes to the Mental Health Bill.