News
Independent monitoring of court custody and escort – key findings – December 2017
In December 2017, Lay Observers spoke to 456 of the 946 people in court custody during their visits. As winter took hold, the temperature in cells fell in courts with defective heating systems. 15 custodies had very cold temperatures that had an impact on the wellbeing of both detained people and staff. In many of … Read more >
Independent monitoring of court custody and escort – key findings, November 2017
In November 2017, Lay Observers spoke to 614 of the 887 people in court custody during their visits. Lay Observers identified inaccuracies in 274 Person Escort Records (PERs), the documentation used by police, prisons and escort contractors to assess a detainee’s needs and risk factors. This represents almost a third of PERs accompanying the people in … Read more >
Independent monitoring of court custody and escort – key findings, October 2017
In October 2017, Lay Observers spoke to 556 of the 793 people in court custody during their visits. Of these, 159 had an identified medical condition and 14% of those with a medical condition were in court without their medication. This represents an improvement compared to September 2017, but is nonetheless too high. Lay Observers … Read more >
Independent monitoring of court custody and escort – key findings, September 2017
In September 2017 Lay Observers spoke to 515 of the 684 people in court custody during their visits. Of these, 177 had an identified medical condition and more than 20% of those with a medical condition were in court without their medication. Lay Observers identified inaccuracies in 184 Person Escort Records (PERs), the documentation used by … Read more >
Fragmented approach to duty of care for detained persons highlighted by Lay Observers in Annual Report
In his second annual report to the Secretary of State for Justice, the Chairman of Lay Observers for England and Wales details failings in the care of people held in custody at courts and transported between police stations, prisons and courts by escort contractors. In his annual report for 2016-17, Tony FitzSimons highlighted the … Read more >
Lay Observers at MoJ Public Appointments event, encouraging diversity
The Public Appointment’s team’s ‘Engage, Encourage and Excite’ event took place this week in London, forming part of a wider strategy to increase the diversity of candidates to MoJ public appointee roles. Representing Lay Observers at this event were Moawia Bin-Sufyan (Lay Observer and also member at IMB Parc) and Rachel Stuart, Head of the Secretariat. Both spoke … Read more >
Lay Observer Autumn 2017 recruitment campaign now open
Our Autumn 2017 recruitment campaign is now live. We are recruiting across England in the following areas: South West (Devon, Somerset & Avon) Oxfordshire South East (Sussex) London Essex/Hertfordshire Durham East Midlands (Derbyshire and Lincolnshire) North West (Manchester, Liverpool and Chester areas) West Midlands (Worcestershire) Applications will close at midnight, November 5th. To find out more and … Read more >
Recruitment campaign for Lay Observers now closed
Our recruitment campaign for new Lay Observers has now closed. If you wish to be put on the vacancy alert list, please send an email to: LOrecruitment@justice.gsi.gov.uk.
Chair of Lay Observers publishes Annual Report for 2015/16
Repeated communication failures and inconsistent medical support are causing risks to the health of detainees in court custody and their ability to communicate their defence adequately says Tony FitzSimons Chair of the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services Lay Observers in his annual report to the Secretary of State for Justice. In the report he urges … Read more >
Our website
Welcome to the Lay Observers website. We hope you find the information here both helpful and informative. We also hope this site will encourage you to find out more about the organisation & consider becoming a new member, to undertake this interesting, challenging and important work.