Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will include provision in the planned Prisons and Courts Reform Bill to make the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman a statutory body.

Sir Oliver Heald

We are carefully considering options for future legislation on prisons, including the role of the current Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and will announce proposals in due course.

Previous governments have made unsuccessful attempts to secure a statutory status for the Ombudsman. We are confident that the Ombudsman has been able to operate effectively with full functional independence without statutory status but note the arguments for statutory footing to strengthen their current position.