Dr. Joe Garrihy:

It is important not to turn inspection bodies or any form of NPM into a body of experts only, if that makes sense. Again, how we define expertise is quite broad. I think a better approach would be having a diverse representation, rather than putting restrictions on entry.

The other way around it could be to make it clear that people without expertise – lay people, for want of a better word – or people with lived experience are welcome to join these committees, thereby making the combination of types of expertise much more fruitful and beneficial in respect of inspection and outcomes. However, certain resources require administrative capacity, such as report writing and interviewing or engaging in dialogue with people. "Interviewing" may not be the right word for inspection mechanisms. We need to be careful to ensure that we have wide representation and do not fall into the trap of narrowing it by having a prescriptive list of types of expertise needed. To speak about the literature on this, people with experience working in the criminal justice system can become the default option. That can mean you get retired police officers and prison officers. That is not ideal. It is not that these individuals are not welcome but it can be a pitfall.