Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his Department's contract with Serco for electronic monitoring on the (a) physical and (b) mental wellbeing of people who will be monitored; and what estimate he has made of the number of people monitored under that contract.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The priority when it comes to electronic monitoring is public protection, hence why they can be accompanied by tough curfews and exclusion zones. However, Serco’s health and safety policy ensures that the physical and mental wellbeing of those subject to electronic monitoring is also regarded. Serco will conduct wellbeing visits, direct those with an electronic monitoring requirement to organisations offering advice and support where necessary and pay due regard to an individual’s health considerations during the installation of equipment and subsequent monitoring of requirements. Serco’s approach was assessed in their tender response and their performance of this will be assessed and reviewed as part of overall contract management.
We have made sufficient funds available to increase the number of defendants and offenders subject to electronic monitoring at any one time to 25,000 by March 2025. This includes doubling the number of GPS tags available to courts for community orders and suspended sentences to support robust community sentences and supervision.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce reoffending.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Over the last 10 years, overall proven re-offending has decreased from 30.9 per cent (2009-10) to 25.6 per cent (2019-20).
In the 2021 Prisons Strategy White Paper, we set out ambitious cross-government plans to tackle re-offending issues. We are investing £550 million in services over the Spending Review period to get offenders into skills training, work and stable accommodation. The White Paper was published alongside the Government’s 10-Year Drug Strategy, and we are investing an additional £120 million to tackle substance misuse.
We are also strengthening the supervision and monitoring of offenders in the community by:
We are also giving £300 million of funding over the Spending Review period to youth offending teams in England and Wales – the largest investment in youth justice in a generation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a harm reduction approach to (a) alcohol and (b) other substances misuse for people in the criminal justice system.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are taking a range of approaches to support people with a substance misuse need, as set out in our ambitious and evidence-based Drugs Strategy – a landmark 10-year plan to work across Government to address illegal drug use, underpinned by a record investment of nearly £900 million. Our goal is to ensure that appropriate and high-quality treatment is available to all offenders with an addiction, which includes some harm reduction approaches – however we must also enable offenders to focus on recovery by taking a zero- tolerance approach to drugs, with consequences for those who breach this.
To achieve this we are expanding mandatory and voluntary testing regimes in prison, expanding the use of Incentivised Substance Free Living units, and Health and Justice coordinators to support people to engage with community treatment providers before they are released. For those on community sentences, we will increase the use of intensive drug and alcohol rehabilitation requirements. We are also expanding the use of GPS-enabled and alcohol abstinence-monitoring electronic tagging, to help offenders in the community stay off alcohol.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the finding in the report of the National Audit Office on Electronic monitoring – a progress update, HC 62 of Session 2022-23, published on 8 June 2022, that HMPPS is not providing stakeholders with location monitoring data in line with its original aims, limiting its added value for supervising offenders and protecting the public, whether his Department is taking steps to address that issue.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In 2021, HMPPS took a decision to cancel the development of a new Electronic Monitoring case management system and stakeholder portal because the project was late and over budget. This left stakeholders without access to GPS tag-generated location monitoring data in line with the Department’s original aims. HMPPS have developed new reporting tools for location monitoring which will address many of the data reporting features that were to form part of the capability of the cancelled investment of the user portal for electronic monitoring information. The NAO reports states that the optimal decision was made to cancel the investment and we have identified innovative, alternative ways to deliver the planned benefits.
Acquisitive crime offenders:
Probation practitioners can access a portal that provides location monitoring data for people on probation in this cohort. This tool is currently available in 19 police force areas. This provides direct access to trail monitoring data, and for instance enables them to plot points of interest such as premises where alcohol is available.
Participating police force areas receive crime mapping reports showing any qualified matches against crime data submitted by the force. Forces can make additional requests for information on acquisitive crime tags.
Other GPS tagged offenders:
Probation practitioners can request trail monitoring data for anyone on a GPS tag.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many repeat offenders of each type in each (a) region and (b) local justice area have been given non-custodial sentences after committing more than three of the same type of offence.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is committed to tackling the causes of reoffending to keep our communities safe. Measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill, currently before Parliament, take a targeted approach so that the most serious and dangerous offenders are kept in prison for longer, while tougher and more effective community sentences tackle the underlying causes of criminal behaviour and improve the supervision and rehabilitation of offenders in the community.
Beyond the Bill, and as set out in the Beating Crime Plan and the Prisons Strategy White Paper, the Government is delivering a package of measures to tackle repeat offending. We have implemented the revised Integrated Offender Management Strategy; we are increasing drug treatment, the proportion of prison leavers into jobs and improving access to accommodation; and we are exploring innovative uses of electronic monitoring through the acquisitive crime GPS tagging project, the roll-out of the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement, and the introduction of Alcohol Monitoring on Licence.
Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for our independent courts, taking into account all the circumstances of each case. Section 65 of the Sentencing Code provides that, when considering the seriousness of an offence, the court is required to treat each relevant previous conviction as an aggravating factor. This principle is also reflected in the Sentencing Council’s General guideline: overarching principles.
The number of offenders who received a non-custodial sentence on their last sentencing occasion for an offence, in each year, after committing more than three offences of the same type, can be viewed in the attached response tables.
The data has been separated for each offence type and by region for the years 2016-2020. This data is not available by local justice area.
The attached tables are taken from offence data published on the Police National Computer. They do not include offences committed outside England and Wales.
To note:
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2022 to Question 133193, on Offenders: Alcoholic Drinks, what plans his Department has to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of the sobriety tagging scheme on (a) levels of alcohol consumption and (b) the wellbeing of offenders.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Prior to the introduction of the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR), as required by the legislation, the department supported two pilots testing the option for community orders and suspended sentence orders. Both pilots undertook to evaluate the requirement and publish their findings, which can be found at the following links:
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf.
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf.
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/annex_1_-_aamr_early_impact_report_210417.pdf.
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aamr_final.pdf.
These findings touched on a number of areas including compliance and wellbeing and informed the introduction of AAMR. I am pleased to report that compliance with alcohol bans has remained at over 97% which is in line with the pilots. We have published statistics regarding take up and compliance with AAMR and will continue to do so, these can be found at the following links:
We are incorporating evaluation into all electronic monitoring expansion projects, in order to build the evidence base for most effective use, and this will include alcohol monitoring on licence.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of further increasing the number of convicted offenders subject to electronic tagging.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Electronic Monitoring is an effective criminal justice tool helping probation and police reduce crime, bringing rigour and accountability to supervision, whilst keeping the public safe. For convicted offenders it can be targeted to support rehabilitation, public protection, crime reduction and reparation.
We are investing £183m in tagging over the next three years, nearly doubling the number of people tagged by 2025. This includes an Innovation Fund to test different ways of using existing technology to cut crime and foster the development of new types of tags.
We have expanded our world first Acquisitive Crime Project, it now covers almost half the country and we have undertaken to publish findings from the project evaluation.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Tens of thousands more criminals to be tagged to cut crime and protect victims, published on 5 October 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on (a) probation service workloads and (b) recall numbers of planned increases in the use of electronic monitoring.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The targeted expansion of electronic monitoring will allow us to assess the impact of specific electronic monitoring measures to inform ongoing and future use. Published alongside the legislation for the Acquisitive Crime project that imposes electronic monitoring on burglars, robbers and thieves is the Impact Assessment in which we have estimated the impact on probation and recall: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/999/impacts This project is being evaluated and findings will be published.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of creating capacity in the National Probation Service for insourcing electronic monitoring.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Electronic monitoring (EM) is an effective criminal justice tool helping the police and probation keep the public safe by monitoring the movements of offenders and those on bail, restricting their liberty while ensuring they can remain in work or education.
EM has always been delivered using a contracted infrastructure and there are no current plans to move away from that model. Probation play a vital role in maximising the effectiveness of EM and obtaining the best outcomes for those who are tagged, which is why senior level sponsorship of EM within probation regions has been built into the new probation unified model.
As the sentencing white paper published recently demonstrates, this Government is committed to expanding the use of EM. For example, we intend to legislate to impose satellite enabled tagging on offenders released from custody who have committed burglary and theft offences. And the roll out of alcohol tags to monitor Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirements to help to break patterns of alcohol-induced offending will shortly begin in Wales.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people who have been released early from prison as a result of the covid-19 outbreak were convicted of serious violent crimes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
On 4 April, the Ministry of Justice announced the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme (ECTR). This scheme enables risk-assessed prisoners, who are within two months of their release date, to be temporarily released from custody, as part of the national approach to managing public services during this challenging period.
No prisoners released under the ECTR scheme have been convicted of serious violent crimes as offenders serving sentences for violent crimes are not eligible for this scheme.
Further information can be found in the published guidance on gov.uk
All offenders released on ECTR are subject to electronic monitoring, which is in place before they are released from custody. Offenders released under ECTR are not subject to statutory probation supervision. However, upon release Community Rehabilitation Companies will deploy Through the Gate staff to ensure each offender has a nominated offender manager to remain in contact with for the duration of the temporary licence.
In addition to ECTR, prisoners in the following groups will merit consideration for compassionate temporary release on a Special Purpose Licence:
a. Pregnant women
b. Prisoners with their babies in custody
c. Those defined by the NHS guidelines as ‘extremely vulnerable’ to Covid-19
Prisoners who are eligible and who meet the criteria above can apply for release on temporary licence (ROTL). A Special Purpose Licence is one of the provisions of the existing ROTL Policy Framework. Only those prisoners who pass a rigorous risk assessment and approval process, which includes input from Community Offender Managers, the police and other statutory agencies where appropriate will be released. These Covid-19 releases under Special Purpose Licence will involve some prisoners who would not in normal times be released on temporary licence, but for whom it may be appropriate in these unique circumstances.
Further information can be found in the published guidance on gov.uk
All prisoners released on a Covid-19 Special Purpose Licence are subject to supervision and support from the prison by their Prison Offender Manager and in the community by their assigned Community Offender Manager. Some prisoners are also subject to a daily curfew and GPS tagging as part of their individual risk management plan.
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service provides ongoing support to establishments including direct conversations with governors where required. Guidance has also been issued to governors to support them and their staff in the delivery of the early release schemes.