Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234706 on Offenders: Electronic Tagging, who the decision-makers will be that will apply the necessary reasonableness, proportionality and necessity tests for use of the 1,000 GPS tags available at any one time.

GPS tags are available nationally for eligible post-custody cohorts. For Home Detention Curfew cases, the prison governor is the decision maker. We have provided prison governors with guidance about the capabilities and uses of location monitoring. For prisoners serving a Life Sentence, Imprisonment for Public Protection or Extended Determinate Sentence, the decision rests with the Parole Board. We have provided the Parole Board with information about the capabilities and uses of location monitoring.

GPS tags are also being rolled out for use in courts, as a requirement of a Community Order, a Suspended Sentence Order or Court-imposed bail. In these cases, the decision will rest with the Judiciary. We have provided the independent Judiciary with information about the capabilities and uses of location monitoring