Serco and Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring to give evidence to Lords Committee on electronic monitoring

The House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee will be holding a further two evidence sessions on Electronic Monitoring tomorrow, as it continues its short inquiry into the matter.  

Giving evidence at 10:30am will be: 

• Antony King, Managing Director of Citizen Services, Serco UK and Europe. 

Questions the committee is likely to ask include: 

• How do Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS) work? Does overall responsibility lie with Serco or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)? 

• What training is provided to those working on Electronic Monitoring? Is Serco equipped to manage an expected increase in demand for tagging services?  

• What have been the advantages and disadvantages of private contracting in electronic monitoring? How does it work in England and Wales compared to other jurisdictions?  

• Given the DPA in 2019, should Serco have been eligible to participate in the tender process? 

• What is the breach procedure? 

• What are the barriers to providing real time updates to police/probation? Is this desirable?  

• How does your work on EM differ in the UK to other regions? 

• Where does Artificial Intelligence fit into EM? 

Giving evidence at c.11:15am will be: 

• David Byrne, President, Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring 

• Aled Hughes, VP R&D Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring 

Questions the committee is likely to ask include: 

• What are the different tags and what are they used for? 

• It is expected that there will be an increase in demand for tags. Does Allied Universal have the capacity to meet that demand? 

• Given the DPA issues for G4S in 2019, should AUEM have been eligible to participate in the tender process? 

• What tags are available for different body types (e.g. women, children, ethnic minorities)?  

• How do your non-fitted devices work (e.g. mobile app monitoring)? Should the UK be using them more? 

• What is the future of EM technology? 

• What is the right balance in terms of private sector involvement in EM? Should EM services be solely run by Probation?