Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

Richard Tice Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that we must build more prison places, and we are working at pace to do that. Obviously, I will not comment on independent judicial decisions that are made in particular cases, but he should be reassured to know that when it comes to tackling acquisitive crime, tagging is appropriate and individualised to the offender, to ensure that it tackles their particular challenges in terms of reoffending. An acquisitive crime GPS tag pilot found that offenders were 20% less likely to reoffend within 12 months. We are working across the board to tackle all these issues in the round.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

It is bad enough that dangerous criminals are being released early, but my constituents are frankly terrified that these prisoners are being released without tags—the world has gone mad, Minister. Will this Government commit not to release prisoners without tags?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The hon. Gentleman will have heard the answers I have given on the business as usual that we inherited: it was always the plan that from 1 October, offenders would normally be tagged at their accommodation. We are presuming that more offenders and individuals released from prison will be eligible for tags than at any point in history, and we are investing significantly in that. We have undertaken a pilot of tagging prisoners at the prison, which has been shown to be successful, and we will work at pace to roll that out further as quickly as possible.