Background
Electronic monitoring or ‘tagging’ allows the police, courts, probation and immigration service to monitor offenders’ compliance with court orders and community sentences, with the aim of reducing reoffending and protecting the public.
The number of people on electronic monitoring tags has doubled over the last five years following HM Prison and Probation’s (HMPPS’s) 2021 expansion programme, which increased tagging capacity and the types of tagging technology available. HMPPS has updated its approach to support its June 2022 vision to create a robust, innovative and data-driven electronic monitoring service. From 2024, it has awarded new contracts to operate the service. HMPPS acknowledges that there were significant backlogs in fitting tags and that early performance of the new service has been suboptimal.
Electronic monitoring is set to play an increasing role within the criminal justice system. Under the recent Sentencing Bill, many prisoners would be released on tag after serving a third of their prison sentence. As a result, the government expects 22,000 more people to be tagged each year.
This study follows our 2022 Electronic monitoring study, which evaluated HMPPS’s electronic monitoring transformation programme and its progress with its expansion programme.
Scope
The study will focus on whether HMPPS is on track to deliver an efficient and effective Electronic Monitoring Service. It will examine if the service is capable of taking on the strategic role envisaged for it within the criminal justice system, including absorbing increasing demand. It will look at whether HMPPS:
- has set out clear aims for its new target operating model for the service and how it will measure success
- has understood and responded to factors influencing weak early operational performance across the Electronic Monitoring Service and their impacts
- has delivered on its broader service improvement objectives to date
- has plans in place to ensure the electronic monitoring service is resilient and capable of meeting expected increases in demand
NAO team
Director: Jenny George
Audit Manager: Kemi Duroshola