Capita picks up government tagging contracts after Serco and G4S scandal
Outsourcing group Capita will be assuming responsibility for the government's so-called tagging contracts for monitoring prisoners, Justice secretary Chris Grayling said today.
The coalition plans to introduce state-of-the-art satellite tagging, which'll save time and money when it comes to tracking criminals, and policing, it says.
The statement confirmed that the Ministry of Justice will have "far greater oversight far greater oversight over costs and charging than previously, with direct access to the supplier’s systems".
This'll be as much of a reassurance to the government as it will to the general public – the contracts caused the former a fair amount of hassle and embarrassment when it was alleged that the last holders, Serco and G4S, charged for tagging criminals who were dead, in prison or who hadn't been tagged to start with.
A review is currently underway into the government's largest contracts with the firms, and they're prevented from winning new central government work from the new year, pending the outcome.
Capita will be taking over in April 2014, with the GPS tagging introduced later in the year.
Grayling said:
This signals a fresh start for electronic monitoring that brings us a step closer to introducing the most advanced tagging system in the world.