Electronic Tagging Strategy Comes Under Fire in New Report

Public Accounts Committee Report Condemns Governement’s Electronic Tagging Strategy

HM Prison & Probation Service launched an electronic tagging programme to improve efficiency and increase the usefulness of tagging for police and probation services. However, significant setbacks and delays the failure has cost taxpayers dear and a new report is scathing of the Government’s strategy.

The Use of Electronic Tagging

Electronic Tagging allows the police, courts, probation and immigration services to monitor offenders’ locations and compliance with court orders, and act if offenders breach their requirements.

There are three main types of tags: radio frequency tags which monitor whether offenders have remained at home during their curfew period; combined radio frequency and global positioning system (GPS) tags which track offenders’ locations and movements; and alcohol monitoring tags which monitor alcohol concentrations in offenders’ sweat.

HMPPS, an executive agency of the Ministry, is responsible for tagging. It delivers the service through four suppliers, including Capita which runs the live service and G4S which supplies tags. As at March 2022, around 15,300 people were tagged.

Avoidable Issues and Cost to the Taxpayer

Its high-risk and over-complicated delivery model, poor oversight of suppliers, overambitious timetable and light-touch scrutiny from the Ministry of Justice all contributed to its failure to introduce a new case management system, which underpinned the intended benefits and transformation.

These avoidable mistakes wasted £98 million of taxpayers’ money and left the tagging service reliant on legacy systems that needed urgent remedial action, costing a further £9.8 million.

Is Tagging Effective?

In 2006, the Public Accounts Committee found that there was insufficient evidence available to determine whether tagging helped to reduce re-offending or promote rehabilitation.

Despite this, HMPPS expects to monitor an additional 10,000 offenders over the next few years, bringing the number of people who are tagged to around 25,000 offenders.

The Future of Electronic Tagging

It is delivering projects to expand the service to new types of offenders while undertaking a major re-procurement of contracts to deliver the service, with the new contracts expected to be in place by January 2024. It expects to spend £1.2 billion from 2021–22 to 2030–31, including £55 million for the re-procurement, £232 million for expansion projects and £808 million for the live service.

How We Can Help

If you have any questions in relation to the use of Electronic Tagging please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0161 477 1121 or email us.