Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

Jayne Kirkham Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I agree with the right hon. Lady that it is completely unacceptable for a prisoner to be released with a tent. That is not Government policy, and it is not something that we want to see. That is why we are working at pace to improve the current homelessness situation that we inherited from the previous Government, to make sure that nobody, including prison leavers, leaves prison homeless or has to live homeless.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

A Lords Committee criticised the Ministry of Justice under the previous Government for reappointing the contractors after repeated failures. Serco had an issue with finding a tag small enough for the elderly mother of my constituent, which delayed her release over Christmas. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that contractors manage to tag all prisoners before they leave prison?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I am sorry to hear about that particular case. There are circumstances where there are physical challenges to fitting a tag—for example, because of a medical reason such as limb loss or swelling. It is important that the vast majority of people who should have tags do have tags, and we need to make sure that happens. The business-as-usual position is to tag an individual who is due to be tagged once they are in their accommodation, but we are trialling, have piloted and will be looking to roll out tagging at the prison as quickly as possible.