An electronic tag used by the justice system to monitor convicts.
(Picture: PA)A new system of tagging criminals has ‘wasted’ £98m of taxpayers’ money, a scathing report from public finance watchdogs has revealed.
The Ministry of Justice has been working on £1.2 billion programme to expand tagging to another 10,000 people in the next three years.
However, the programme of extending tagging and the introduction of new technology systems to monitor the movements of those tagged has squandered tens of millions of pounds, the Public accounts Committe said.
In a report it criticised the “high-risk and over-complicated delivery model, poor oversight of suppliers, overambitious timetable and light-touch scrutiny from the Ministry of Justice”.
It added that of the new case management system for electronic monitoring of offenders had “cost taxpayers dear”.
The Committee said “avoidable mistakes” wasted £98 million of taxpayers’ money and left the tagging service relying on old systems which cost £9.8m to update.
Even after spending moe than £100m the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS still “do not know what works and for who, and whether tagging reduces reoffending”.
Despite the lack of knowledge and evaluation, government is pressing ahead with a £1.2 billion programme to expand tagging to another 10,000 people in the next three years.
Given the “long history of poor performance in this area” the Committee is “unconvinced” that the MoJ is equipped to handle emerging problems and will continue to monitor the “serious risks” that remain for the expansion of tagging and the need to procure new contracts by early 2024.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The prison and probation service is reliant on outdated technology that is swallowing taxpayers’ money just to stand still.
“The existing system is at constant risk of failure – and let us be clear that in the case of tagging, ‘failure’ can mean direct and preventable risk to the public – and attempts to transform it have failed.
“The incredible scale of waste and loss in the Government’s Covid response should in no way inure us to this: that’s another hundred million pounds of taxpayers’ money for essential public services just thrown away, wasted, lost.
“We expect a serious explanation, and a serious plan, from the MoJ and Government more widely how they are going to stop this haemorrhaging of taxpayers’ money that they are presiding over. We need assurances up front over the further £1.2 billion they have already committed to the tagging programme – what will be achieved, by when, and, crucially, what will be recovered for the public if goals aren’t met.”
