Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any community rehabilitation companies in England or Wales use bio-metric machines as a method of reporting for offenders.

Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland; and Staffordshire and West Midlands Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) have piloted Biometric Reporting Kiosks. The pilot has involved stakeholder engagement with the National Probation Service and HM Courts Service in the area, and will be evaluated before it is implemented more widely.

At the appropriate time, we will work closely with CRCs on their proposed plans to roll out Biometric Reporting Kiosks more widely. We continue to closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments to reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.