The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling)
I can today announce that the Ministry of Justice will be awarding contracts to four companies for delivery of the next generation of electronic monitoring services. This follows a rigorous competitive process and is a critical milestone in the programme to introduce the new arrangements.
Contracts will be awarded to Airbus Defence and Space, Capita, Steatite, and Telefonica, who will work together to introduce the most advanced tracking technology in the world.
Capita will manage the overall service under a six-year contract, with Airbus providing satellite mapping and Telefonica supplying the network under three-year contracts.
The new tags will be supplied by the British company Steatite, and will be a significant improvement on the tags currently in use, exploiting the latest technology to locate and track subjects. Monitoring the movements of dangerous and repeat offenders will be vital in cutting crime and creating a safer society with fewer victims.
We are confident that the new contracts will facilitate the creation of a vibrant market in electronic monitoring, encouraging innovation and allowing us to take full advantage of new and emerging technology.
As well as improvements in technology, the new contracts offer better value for the taxpayer. Once fully established in the second and third years of operations, we expect the new contracts to deliver average annual savings of £20 million relative to the previous contracts with G4S and Serco. The contracts will also provide us with far greater oversight over costs and charging than previously, with direct access to suppliers’ systems and extensive audit rights.
We will begin using the new tags by the end of the year.