Annual Reports
Newswire – HMIoP: After a year in which prisons held a record number of prisoners, the prison system remains under pressure, and important lessons must be learnt if prisons are to be safe & effective, said the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, in her annual report.
Despite ‘sustained and chronic’ pressure, the report recognises progress over the past year. Overall, the Inspectorate’s assessments of prisons inspected last year were more positive than those of prisons inspected the previous year, particularly in resettlement work. The number of self-inflicted deaths also decreased last year.
Alongside the annual report, HMIP have also published a review: The prison characteristics that predict prisons being assessed as performing ‘well’.
Press release ~ HM Inspectorate of Prisons annual report 2007-2008 ~ Review: The prison characteristics that predict prisons being assessed as performing ‘well’
DH: The government claims that the third national Health Profile of England demonstrates improvements in critical areas of the nation's health. Death rates from cancer, heart disease and suicides continue to decline, whilst life expectancy is higher than ever and infant mortality at its lowest.
CLG: People feel their local area is a place where individuals from different backgrounds get on well together, new figures show. Headline figures from the citizenship survey show that 82% of people see their community as cohesive, an increase from 80% in 2005.
The survey is less positive on people feeling their voices are being heard at a local level. Fewer than 40% of respondents felt able to influence decisions in their local area. This is an area the Government claims it is keen to address and has set out plans - in its Communities in Control White Paper and in new legislation currently in Parliament - which will go even further in giving more power to local people.
