The IAPDC works together with the following bodies to advise the Ministers and senior officials.
The Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody (MBDC) brings Ministers, senior officials, experts, and practitioners together to enable better learning and sharing of lessons across the custodial sectors. The MBDC meets three times a year with workstreams being taken forward between meetings. The MBDC’s remit covers deaths which occur in prisons, in or following police custody, immigration detention, the deaths of residents of approved premises, and the deaths of those detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) in hospital. Read previous minutes.
The Ministry of Justice is the government department responsible for the justice system in England and Wales. It is responsible, through HM Prison and Probation Service, for the management of the prisons and the probation service. The Ministry of Justice is one of three government departments that co-sponsor the work of the IAPDC.
The Home Office is the government department responsible for leading work on crime, immigration and the police. The Home Office is one of three government departments that co-sponsor the work of the IAPDC.
The Department of Health and Social Care is the government department responsible for setting direction for healthcare delivery and outcomes. It is responsible, through the NHS, for the management of the national healthcare system. The Department of Health and Social Care is one of three government departments that co-sponsor the work of the IAPDC.
The work of the IAPDC is supported by a reference group representing practitioners and stakeholders. The main role of this group is to provide expertise and input into the IAPDC’s projects, and to receive information from the IAPDC.
The IAPDC is committed to consulting people in custody and detention and where possible their families and/or significant others, as well as families bereaved by custody deaths when developing recommendations and advice.
Since 2017, the IAPDC has collaborated with Inside Time, Prison Radio and the Samaritans to reach out and listen to those in custody and seek their ideas for keeping people safe. This collaboration, known as ‘Keeping Safe’, has yielded a number of pieces of work – read more about the Keeping Safe steering group.