§ 41. Mr. John GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the Green Paper proposals for the use of electronic tags to monitor offenders; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenWe have received a number of representations, some commenting on the suggestion that electronic monitoring might be used to enforce a curfew as part of the new court order proposed in the Green Paper. We shall consider the future use of electronic monitoring in the light of these comments and the pilot studies—monitoring defendants remanded on bail—which will begin later this year.
§ 54. Mr. Anthony CoombsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the technology for the tracking tag, as opposed to the curfew tag, to be demonstrably effective; and if he will then introduce it into pilot schemes on tagging throughout England and Wales.
§ Mr. John PattenI understand that some companies are working on monitoring devices which allow the wearer to be tracked. This technology is still at the development stage and I do not expect its effectiveness to be reliably demonstrated in time for the forthcoming pilot studies.