Thanks go to regular 'Getafix contributor for pointing us in the direction of the following shot across the bows from Their Lordships:-
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee today publishes a letter to the Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending and the Minister for Border Security and Asylum. In the letter, the Committee sets out its concerns about the woefully inadequate resources promised by the Government, and the absence of a new Electronic Monitoring (EM) strategy.The Committee also believes additional issues must be addressed before EM achieves its potential.
The letter
Electronic Monitoring (EM, commonly called tagging) is likely to double once the Sentencing Bill becomes law. This will require a significant increase in funding for the Probation Service, not least for additional staff and training.
It also requires a new EM strategy with a clearly defined purpose for how the Government believes EM should be used. Without such a strategy and additional funding, the probation service is being set up to fail, according to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
In its letter, the Committee finds:
Electronic Monitoring (EM, commonly called tagging) is likely to double once the Sentencing Bill becomes law. This will require a significant increase in funding for the Probation Service, not least for additional staff and training.
It also requires a new EM strategy with a clearly defined purpose for how the Government believes EM should be used. Without such a strategy and additional funding, the probation service is being set up to fail, according to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
In its letter, the Committee finds:
- Poor communication to the Judiciary and the public by the Government, about the purpose and benefits of EM
- Insufficient evidence to support the efficacy of much of the use of EM, with evidence produced by the Government too often focusing on pilot studies and short-term reviews showing little to no evidence of quantifiable success
- Potential inability of current private contractors to handle the increase in those subject to EM
- Ethical concerns around the use of EM in some contexts, particularly its use in immigration bail
- Major concerns about the underwhelming, and at times dire, performance of the private sector providing EM services.
- Failure to fully grasp the opportunities provided by new technologies.
Lord Foster of Bath, Chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee said:
“The Probation Service needs more funding, and many more well-trained staff if there is to be a successful EM expansion. Without this, the Probation Service is being set up to fail.
“It is startling that the Government is promoting the biggest expansion of EM in a generation at a time of great technological advancement yet does not see fit to accompany this with a new strategy.
“There is also a new presumption that all prison leavers will be subject to EM on their release from custody. This blanket approach to tagging, regardless of crime and circumstances, diminishes the role of effective, targeted probation interventions, and risks creating an unethical system that is overly punitive and disproportionate.
“Alongside a major boost in funding and training, and a reassessment of procurement and contract management, a new EM strategy is crucial. At a time when the use of EM is changing, with numbers almost doubling and the intention to tag most prison leavers ‘at source’, the Government must reassess its approach to EM. The rise of new technologies, including non-fitted devices and AI, further highlight the importance of a new strategy, one which clearly defines the purpose of EM to both the judiciary and the public.
“We look forward to the Government’s response to the observations and recommendations in this letter.”
no point in having a strategy of any description if (a) no-one knows what it is &/or (b) no-one abides by it.
ReplyDeleteIt so hard to know what the reality of any situation is anymore when lammy is allegedly buying a new suit rather than getting across his first PMQs as the first ever black male MP to take the helm (Diane Abbott was first black MP, Oct 2019). MoJ sent davies-jones, their version of leavitt (trump's pr jack russell), to answer questions on bbcR4 this morning; barnett wasn't having any of it & it wasn't very edifying.
With the unhinged jenrick on one side, an undressed lammy on't'other & the untouchable incompetents at moj/hmpps holding the middle ground, there's no hope for an effective uk justice system.
Nice to know that failed justice minister alex chalk reads this blog, Jim; at least that seems to be a fair assumption given his interview on R4world-at-one this afternoon & quoting almost verbatim some of the views expressed here:
Delete"they have really got to step up on this, there's a whole cadre of people, senior managers who are responsible for prison safety, etc, you can't just blame the guys in the OMUs, the offender management units... I do think that the managers and the senior leadership have got to do more to get their house in order, you know they're paid quite good salaries, they really need to do their duty."
Never happened on his watch, eh?
Lame lammy showed us his tactless stupidity yesterday. Now we have all seen what an idiot he is bar mastermind. His ambitions to radically overhaul prisons will falter quickly as I hope labour do too. They have been a clear disaster . Lammy is way out of depth can be seen to be so. With this blinkered approach he won't put finances to probation yet he will reign down more difficult work. I don't think anything is going to cut through until it's another tradegy.
Deleteits not party political... its just political ambition gone mad.
DeleteAt a micro level, the organisation has failed to replace a receptionist in the office where my wife works. The previous person left a year ago.They apparently came close once or twice, but people got fed up of waiting 4 months for clearance to start a new minimum wage job. This matters in as much as if you can't manage this simple task, it's difficult to be optimistic about anything else.
ReplyDeleteI can well believe it, but in the meantime, the work is getting done and the salary is being saved. It won’t be distributed to staff as a bonus.
DeleteI think this is replicated at all grades around all offices in the community. For meaningful staffing levels changes to occur we need to over recruit by at least one person in each grade so that when people leave we are not down for the minimum of 6 months it takes the national recruitment team and then SSCL to process them
DeleteI’ll repeat what was said on the last post, and probation “leaders”, HMPPS, HMIP, Napo, etc all need to take note.
ReplyDelete“There’s a reason why probation models and youth justice services that use social workers are thriving. How difficult would it really be to take the £700 million set aside for tagging and AI, and instead invest it into a 20% pay rise across all probation bands, while giving all qualified probation officers and senior probation officers the all expenses paid fast track option to top up their qualifications to align with a Diploma in Social Work? That’s not radical, it’s just common sense. Probation recruitment and retention would go through the roof.”
The so-called 'leaders' don't want that model. They despise it because it doesn't fit with their reliance on spiteful managerialism to control staff. Qualified, well paid happy staff are problematic, they get antsy, ask awkward questions, embarass their line managers, get uppity, start eyeing up the leadres' jobs.
DeleteFar easier to keep staff unhappy, irritated, frightened to challenge, anxious, stressed, eager to please, divide & rule, feeling threatened... that's when the silly mistakes happen - & it makes it so much eaiser to pin the tail on the donkey.
Sandford (bbc reporter) was very clear yesterday when he spoke about the circumstances surrounding the Algerian prisoner released in error. He identified that the man had been through the CJ system & convicted/imprisoned *after* his pre-existing leave to remain had expired in 2020, meaning Buckland, Patel, Raab, Braveman, Shapps, Cleverly, Cooper, Lewis, Chalk & Mahmood were all relevant ministers (justice or home secs) who had done nothing to address the situation of a foreign national with criminal convictions remaining in the UK outwith any legal permission.
But some poor overworked, underpaid fucker in HMP Somewhere will be hung out to dry, lose their job & be unemployable as a result.
They do not want sentient beings.
They want cannon fodder.
Or better yet, the cobbler wants to gamble all of the taxpayer cash on AI.
Letter from the PGA regarding the erroneous releases.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly for me they call for more independence from political "showboating" and more individual localised autonomy!
I think probation would benefit from some of the same?
https://prison-governors-association.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/PGA-PRESS-RELEASE-6-Nov-2025.pdf
'Getafix
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/06/prison-sentencing-reforms-rise-in-crime-police-chiefs
ReplyDeleteGovernment plans to radically reform sentencing will lead to an increase in crime by as much as 6% in a single year, according to police chiefs.
DeleteThe reforms, which cover England and Wales, involve a presumption against short sentences of a year or less, with community sentences used instead, and those jailed being released earlier than currently the case.
The hope, which policing bosses said they share, is that offenders will experience greater efforts at rehabilitation, and in the medium to long term the changes will cut offending.
But Jason Devonport, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for criminal justice reform, warned of an increase in recorded crime of 4 to 6% across England and Wales in the first year after the changes were enacted.
That is equivalent to tens of thousands of additional crimes. In the year to June 2025, 6.6 million crimes were recorded in England and Wales, official figures say.
Devonport said: “We are expecting that, whilst the programmes in the community are being ramped up by the probation service as part of the implementation plan to support offenders to rehabilitate, we expect, certainly in the short term, there will be an increase of offending.”
Gavin Stephens, the NPCC chair, said: “The ambition on this from everybody is that over the medium to long term, if the new approach to rehabilitation is right, it should drive it down. But there’s no doubt, in the short term, we’re working on an assumption that there’s going to be an increase.”
Some convicted of domestic violence or sex offences may be included in those realised from prison early or not jailed at all.
More probation officers, about 1,500, are being recruited and need training to give the reforms a better chance of working.
Police say they are pressing government for £300m to £400m extra for the increased demands, such as greater monitoring of offenders in the community.
It is an unprecedented intervention by police chiefs, directly pinning their forecast of a significant rise in crime on a government policy.
Devonport, who spent 18 months as a prison governor, said: “I do believe in the sentencing bill and I believe in rehabilitation, but it has to be properly funded.”
Stephens said: “We’ve all been in policing long enough to know that some of the things that help people stop offending or desist from offending are not going to be resolved by short sentences in particular.
“So that’s a fundamental reason why we’re supportive of this.”
Ellie Butt, of Refuge, said her organisation was deeply concerned: “The risks posed by domestic abuse perpetrators cannot be underestimated. With the sentencing bill set to create a presumption that custodial sentences of less than 12 months will be suspended, it is crucial that safeguards exempting domestic abuse offenders are consistently applied.
“Survivors’ confidence in the criminal justice system is already at breaking point, and many tell us they receive inadequate responses from police when they report abuse. The government cannot afford to take decisions that will reduce the police’s ability to effectively respond to domestic abuse.”
Prisons in England and Wales are so overcrowded the new Labour government last year implemented a policy of early release for convicted offenders.
If there is an increase in crime, that could pose political danger for Labour.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said: “This revelation proves what common sense tells us: Labour’s weak and reckless approach to sentencing means many more criminals will be out on the streets, where they will commit more crime.
“The police are telling us Labour’s policy will make us less safe, and the government must change course.”
By cutting reoffending through rehabilitation, the long-term hope has been that crime will fall along with the cost of repeatedly having to lock up the same offenders.
But measures such as electronic tagging of offenders have had limited success. One police source said: “Lots of faith is being placed in tags. There is a growing consensus in policing that tags are the emperor’s new clothes. In the real world they don’t work perfectly. There is a fair degree of failure and non-compliance.”
DeleteA House of Lords report published on Thursday said the use of tagging is likely to double under the sentencing bill, and warns it may fail.
The report from the Lords’ justice and home affairs committee says more money is needed for the probation service, and the government lacks a clear strategy about when electronic monitoring should be used.
The Ministry of Justice, the department responsible for the changes, has been approached for comment.
Surely the relevant (obvious to anyone who considers what really happens when a person is tagged) some restrictions are placed on a person's life without any positive interventions or support to live succesfully within the law.
DeleteCompletely agree. It dosent really advance anything.
DeleteI have a bugbear with the recall rates at the moment. I think them farcical. Recent statistics show over 100 people a day are being recalled. 700 and more a week. Most are the 12mth and under cohort.
But here's the thing that puzzles me about the universal tagging of people released from custody.
If people are recalled whilst on tag what happens to them when they've served their fixed term recall? Tagged again on release?
That would seem a a very pointless exercise, at huge cost, to achieve nothing at all!
Maybe I'm missing something?
'Getafix
Huge cost? Yep. Pointless? Hell no, its fulfilment of the financial promises made to the tagging companies by the cobbler.
DeleteUs mere mortals may not feel the benefit, but if you're a member of the chumocracy ... KERCHING!!!
No point in funding, recruitment and well-trained staff if they are not paid appropriately to retain them.
ReplyDeleteWent on training last week with some probation staff who were keen to tell me they look in peoples cupboards and under the bed im home visits like the stasi
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely no need to be that invasive.
DeleteMoney needs to be set aside, probably few hundred million £s, for good, basic and reliable security resources and systems to protect front line probation staff in sentence management. Waiting for Kim Thornden-Edwards to publish the plan.
ReplyDeleteYes! This is needed. Napo, where art thow?
DeleteNapo are not relevant the won't consult with them or give any negotiated indication. Napo what the fuc# is Napo
Delete