Visiting Committees Reform

Mr Wyllie made this Freedom of Information request to Scottish Government

The request was partially successful.

From: Mr Wyllie

11 May 2010

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002.

The Scottish Ministers indicated that reform of the system of
visiting commitees would take place as part of the Government's
programme of public reform.

This was to involve the Association of Visiting Committees for
Scottish Penal Establishments and HM Inspectorate of Prisons for
Scotland.

Please provide information about contact held between these three
organisations and the Scottish Government since 1st January 2009
about these plans for rationalisation and streamlining, and
discussions held in the Scottish Government about these plans.

This should include, among other items, copies of minutes,
memoranda, and correspondence between the respective institutions
and the Government.

I would be grateful if such information were provided in an
electronic format.

I look forward very much to your response.

Thank you very much for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Wyllie

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Scottish Government

25 May 2010

Mr Wylie - You have made the undernoted request under freedom of
information. You refer to 3 organisations as well as the Scottish
Government but then only mention the Association of Visiting Committees
and HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland. Can you just confirm please
who is the third organisation you are referring to? Thanks

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002.

The Scottish Ministers indicated that reform of the system of
visiting committees would take place as part of the Government's
programme of public reform.

This was to involve the Association of Visiting Committees for
Scottish Penal Establishments and HM Inspectorate of Prisons for
Scotland.

Please provide information about contact held between these three
organisations and the Scottish Government since 1st January 2009
about these plans for rationalisation and streamlining, and
discussions held in the Scottish Government about these plans.

This should include, among other items, copies of minutes,
memoranda, and correspondence between the respective institutions
and the Government.

I would be grateful if such information were provided in an
electronic format.

I look forward very much to your response.

Thank you very much for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Wyllie

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From: Mr Wyllie

25 May 2010

Dear Mr Kilpatrick,

Thanks for your message.

I'm sorry for not making my request clear enough: the three bodies
to which I referred was the Scottish Government, HMIP and the
Association of Visiting Committees.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Wyllie

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Scottish Government

25 May 2010

Mr Wylie. Thanks for the clarification.

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

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Scottish Government

4 June 2010

Mr Wyllie - As you may know FOI requests should normally be replied to
within 20 working days from the date of the request, although in certain
circumstances the time clock is stopped and re-commences if for example
clarification on the request is required. Your original request was made
on 11 May with the 20 day period expiring on 9 June 2010.

This note is to regretfully advise that it is unlikely we will be able
to meet this timeline. As lead officer in relation to Visiting
Committees 11 May was in fact my last day in that post and my
replacement is still awaited. I have however, been able to recover
documentation which appear to relate to your request but due to the
considerable amount of information I need to review, this is going to
take me longer that I would have wished.

I can only apologise for what I think will likely be a delay in dealing
with your enquiry. I will however, confirm the position with you on
Wednesday 9 June and hope then to provide you with a realistic date when
you can expect to receive a full reply to your request.

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

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Scottish Government

11 June 2010

Mr Wyllie - This is just to update you on progress with your request, I
expect to be able to respond by the end of next week. Once again
apologies for the delay.

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

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Scottish Government

18 June 2010

Mr Wyllie - This is just to update you on progress with your request.
Unfortunately I have been off sick all this week and only returned
today. I am therefore not able to issue you with a reply today. I have
reviewed all the material and we can release a significant amount. You
have requested this in an electronic format and because of this I need
to arrange for this to be done through our central scanning unit which
means it takes a little longer to deal with your enquiry. If it had been
a postal request I would likely have been able to issue this on Monday
but it is I am afraid likely to be the end of next week before I can
finally reply. Once again please accept my sincere apologies for the
delay, which regretfully have been due to a number of separate
circumstances combining to delay a timeous reply to your request.

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

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From: Mr Wyllie

18 June 2010

Dear Mr Kilpatrick,

Thanks for your email, and keeping me up to date about progress.

I'm sorry to hear of your illness, and hope you are fine now. That
and all the other reasons for delay have been out of your control,
so I'm quite comfortable with these timescales. In any case, to be
frank, it's not that much of a delay.

It may be of help if I say that I won't be going down the internal
review route about this request given your helpful updates;
provided, when I get the information, the Government's not resorted
to overuse of the "prejudice conduct of public affairs" exemption.

Thanks again for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Wyllie

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Scottish Government

25 June 2010

Attachment Copy of response to foi v1.0.doc
406K Download View as HTML

Attachment Visiting Committee Release 1.pdf
11.7M Download View as HTML

Mr Wyllie - Please find attached our response to your request under the
Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 regarding Visiting Committees
for Scottish penal Establishments.

Gordon Kilpatrick
Parole Review Team Leader
Parole Unit
Criminal Justice and Parole Division
Room 2W.R
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
Tel:0131 244 1823
Fax: 0131 244 8794

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