Extension to National Chair of the Independent Monitoring Boards

The Secretary of State has announced an extension to Dame Anne Owers’ tenure as National Chair of the Independent Monitoring Boards from 1 June 2022 until 31 May 2023.

This appointment is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the extension has been made in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) provide statutory, independent oversight, monitoring the treatment and care of prisoners and detainees. They operate in prisons, young offender institutions, immigration removal centres, some short-term holding facilities and on flights for those being removed from the UK.

Biography

Dame Anne Owers was appointed as the first National Chair of the IMBs in November 2017.

Dame Anne currently chairs Koestler Arts, the prison arts charity. Dame Anne was the Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (now the Independent Office for Police Conduct) from 2012 to 2017. She was Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons between 2001 and 2010 and chaired a review of prisons in Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2011.

Prior to that, Dame Anne was the Director of Justice, the UK human rights and law reform organisation (1992-2001), and General Secretary of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (1986-1992). She was also a member of the advisory group to the Lammy review of race and criminal justice.