Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use technology to create more effective community sentencing orders; and if so, how.

Electronic monitoring technology to monitor a curfew requirement is now being augmented by satellite enabled tags that can also monitor compliance with other community requirements including exclusion zones and an offender’s attendance at a certain activity, for example, unpaid work or a rehabilitation programme. From April, it will also be possible to use the new tags to monitor an offender’s movements as a freestanding requirement of a community order.

This new technology provides a tool to monitor restrictions imposed on an offender’s movements and lifestyle where it is appropriate and proportionate to do so.