Oral Answers to Questions

Calum Miller Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I share my hon. Friend’s concerns about the proliferation of smart glasses and other technology. He will be reassured to know that probation services can already prohibit offenders on licence from possessing and using such items, including smart glasses. I would be happy to meet with him, and I look forward to discussing further how we can ensure that the measure is truly effective and keeps the public safe.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

During the course of the Sentencing Act 2026, I asked the former Lord Chancellor to reassure me about the Probation Service and the use of tagging, following an incident where a constituent had been traumatised by her former partner’s being released under licence and pursuing her because the tags failed. If the Minister cannot reassure me now about the Probation Service vacancy rate and number of tag failures over the last 12 months, will she write to me providing that information?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s concerns and would be happy to look further into the issues that he raises. As he knows, we are working incredibly hard to ensure we have the probation team and workforce that we need to keep the public safe. We have successfully onboarded 1,389 trainee probation officers. We are up on our targets and the data is going in the right direction, but we appreciate that we need to do more and are working hard to ensure we keep the public safe when offenders are released into the community.