Further to the answer to question S3W-27912 by Kenny MacAskill on 22 October 2009, what measures have been taken to ensure that the composi…

I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:
The constitution and composition of prison Visiting Committees (VC) is determined by the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989
- Section 8 Visiting Committees, Section 19 Remand centres and young offender institutions and Section 39 Rules for the management of prisons and other institutions which refers to The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006 which includes Schedule 2 Constitution of Visiting Committees.
Schedule 2 specifies that VC''s have a combined membership of elected members from either the local council in which the prison is located or councils that are served by the prison, and also non-elected members who normally reside in the same community, but can also come from further afield.