Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Jess Brown-Fuller

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Over 5,000 offenders went unmonitored in the first half of this year due to serious delays in the tagging system, and in the year to March, an average of 300 people per week were released from prison with no fixed address, making it incredibly difficult to ensure that offenders are tagged and then managed in the community. That adds to the strain on both the Probation Service and the police, who are using scarce resources to manage an increasingly large caseload and keep victims safe. The Government have repeatedly promised that they will not jeopardise public safety, but many victims following the stories over the weekend, especially after Mark Rowley’s comments, will struggle to believe them. Will the Government listen to the calls of the Victims’ Commissioner to tag individuals at the gate and roll that out to every prison by January?

We also welcomed the Government’s announcement to introduce restriction zones for offenders, which limits the movement for perpetrators rather than victims, but the effectiveness of those zones will require offenders to be properly monitored and any breaches to be addressed without delay. Is the Minister confident that there are enough resources to operate restriction zones effectively, and when will we see a national roll-out of this important measure?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The hon. Lady makes a number of thoughtful and helpful contributions. It is very important that housing and homelessness are tackled among the prison leaver population, to ensure that they have the opportunity to build a life and not reoffend, and we will work with local authorities as effectively as possible to ensure that prisoners are not at risk of becoming homeless. It is a priority of this Prime Minister and this Government to tackle homelessness across the board, which was reinforced by the announcement yesterday of £874 million of priority funding to tackle homelessness. We are already extending the period by which collaboration must happen between the prison and probation unit and local authorities, so that they have the maximum period possible to put in place arrangements that ensure victims’ safety and the public’s safety.

The hon. Member rightly raised tagging at source, which we have had a very successful pilot of. This has not been done previously by any Government. We recognise it as an opportunity to really improve the work that is happening, and we are working at pace to ramp up tagging at source. She also raised the restriction zones. I can only reiterate that these are world-leading measures we are putting in place. We are not just fixing the mess that we inherited but working at pace to make this system work in the interests of victims and the public, and creating a society that everyone can contribute to.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Jess Brown-Fuller

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend. He has outlined just one example of how the system is broken and needs to be fixed.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Parents and children in Chichester have lost confidence in the SEND system, with families effectively pitted against each other and against Conservative-led West Sussex county council, which this year delivered only 10% of its EHCPs within the 20-week statutory framework. Does the Minister agree that is unacceptable, and will she meet me and other West Sussex MPs to discuss this specific issue that West Sussex county council seems to have?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The hon. Lady has outlined how the system is broken. We know it is broken. We want to fix it, and I am happy to work with colleagues across the House in order to do so, so I would be happy to meet her, as she suggests.