ABSTRACT
In 1773, John Howard, who might fairly be called the first prison inspector, was appointed the sheriff of Bedfordshire. Although the Inspectorate's remit has been extended by successive legislation, its core duties and powers have remained largely unchanged since the early 1980s. The team meets daily throughout the inspection to compare notes and pull together the various strands of evidence. Team members regularly feed back to those in charge of the areas they are inspecting and the team leader meets with the governor at the end of each day to feed back emerging findings. All the major inspectorates with which the Inspectorate works – the Care Quality Commission (CQC), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Ofsted – have, to a greater or lesser extent, come in for criticism for being insufficiently independent of the bodies they inspect and rigorous in their approach.
