Continuation of GPS Tagging for Knife Crime Offenders on Licence Pilot

The Police and Crime Plan and the London Knife Crime Strategy contain commitments to pilot the use of GPS tagging with knife crime offenders being released from prison on licence. The MOPAC GPS for knife crime pilot has been running for 14 months (PCD 570) and to date over 190 offenders have been given GPS licence conditions as part of the pilot.

This decision seeks agreement to extend the pilot by 12 months to 5th May 2021 at a maximum cost of £861,532. This budget is formed of £311,532 carried forward from the 19/20 GPS pilot budget, and £550,000 previously approved in PCD 715.

Finally, this decision seeks to approve a contract extension with the electronic monitoring supplier Buddi Ltd by 12-months to allow for the continuation of this pilot up to the value of £693,266.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

• Approve the use of £861,532 for the delivery of the GPS tagging for knife crime on licence pilot for a further 12 months. This is made up of £311,532 carried forward from the 19/20 GPS pilot budget, and £550,000 previously approved in PCD 715.

• Approve the extension of the contract with Buddi Ltd by 12 months to the value of £693,266.

• It is recommended that the Chief Executive Officer is granted delegated authority for signing future documents in relation to this decision, including contracts and variations. Approval of this decision remains with DMPC as per MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The current GPS pilot for knife crime offenders on licence has a planned end date of 30th April 2020 (monitoring of tagged offenders will continue until 30th October 2020). In the first 12 months of the pilot 140 offenders had GPS conditions imposed.

1.2. The pilot is operational in 24 London boroughs. Under the proposed extension the pilot will remain at its current scale however the intention is to expand the eligibility to new cohorts (domestic abuse and moped-enabled offenders) and to expand the roll-out of the pilot to all London boroughs throughout the next 12 months (where viable as a result of Covid-19).

1.3. The evaluation of the GPS knife crime tagging project is being undertaken by MOPAC Evidence and Insight, using a model that builds on the approach previously employed for the offenders tagged on the Persistent Offender Programme. The evaluation employs a mixed-methods approach, combining performance monitoring, process and, if the sample size allows it, impact analysis. An interim evaluation report is due to be published in summer 2020. A final evaluation report will be written following the end date of the pilot.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The specific aims for the pilot are:

• That GPS data is used to improve the management of the risk posed to known adults, children and the public.

• That GPS improves the enforcement of licence conditions and increases deterrence from further offending.

• That location data is used to challenge offender’s thinking and lifestyle and improves rehabilitation.

• That GPS location data is shared appropriately for enhanced crime detection.

2.2. The existing contract with the electronic monitoring supplier, Buddi Ltd, was written using the G Cloud 10 Framework from the Crown Commercial Service. The procurement process was supported by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Commercial Service’s team. The existing contract allows for a 12-month extension.

2.3. During the 12-months to May 2021 it is envisaged that up to 400 offenders will receive a GPS tag on release from prison. This will largely be made up of knife crime offenders but may also include domestic abuse and moped enabled offenders.

2.4. To support the extension of the pilot there will be a requirement for continued resource including a dedicated Police Intelligence Analyst to support the crime mapping function. Crime mapping allows for the cross-referencing of eligible offender’s movements against the location of reported crimes in London. Data is only released when a match is confirmed, and this is triaged to assess significance before being sent on to local police teams for investigation Crime mapping will only be carried out for offender assessed as “more likely than not” to reoffend.

2.5. MOPAC continue to have a project delivery team consisting of two probation secondments. These roles are essential in the supporting Probation practitioners identify, manage and enforce GPS cases. The team also provides policy development, governance arrangements and staff training.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The maximum approved budget for this extension is £861,532 including the use of £550,000 (as approved in PCD 715) and the carry forward of £311,532 from the 19/20 GPS budget. It is intended that this project is to be funded from the 19/20 carry forward budget.

3.2. The breakdown of the costs is as follows:

Item Cost

GPS tagging and electronic monitoring £692,816

Lost tags £20,000

Missed appointments £18,000

MPS analyst £42,000

MOPAC Delivery Team £88,716

TOTAL £861,532

3.3. The contract value for 20/21 with Buddi Ltd for GPS tagging and electronic monitoring (including the cost of lost tags and missed appointments) is £693,266. The remaining £37,550 is covered by PCD 570 and relates to part of the previous contract period, from 1st April to 4th May 2020.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Section 62(2) of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (the 2000 Act) provides that released prisoners may be subject to licence conditions which may include electronic monitoring conditions. Sections 62(2B) of the 2000 Act provides that the person who is to be made responsible for the monitoring is of a description specified in an order made by the Secretary of State. The Electronic Monitoring (Responsible Persons) Order 2018 provides a description of the persons who may be made responsible for the monitoring of individuals subject to electronic monitoring whilst on licence. Further organisations, in addition to those listed below, could be added to this list via the parliamentary statutory instrument process, depending on the outcome of procurement processes and whether this addition received support from central government and received parliamentary consent. However, currently only those employed by the following organisations can be responsible for the electronic monitoring of those on licence —

(i) Capita Business Services Limited, 71 Victoria Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0XA (Company Number 02299747);

(ii) Alcohol Monitoring Systems Limited, Lancashire Gate, 21 Tiviot Dale, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 1TD (Company Number 07993509);

(iii) Buddi Limited, Talbot House, 17 Church Street, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 1DE (Company Number 05308826).

4.2. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police service and secure that the metropolitan police service is efficient and effective.” This is a broad power and the extension of the pilot is aimed at deterring further offending, improving rehabilitation and enhancing crime detection all of which would enable the efficiency and effectiveness of the police service. In addition, under Schedule 3, paragraph 7, MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements.

4.3. Section 143 (1) of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides an express power for MOPAC, as a local policing body, to provide or arrange for the provision of (a) services that in the opinion of the local policing body will secure, or contribute to securing, crime and disorder reduction in the body's area and (b) services “intended by the local policing body to help victims or witnesses of, or other persons affected by, offences and anti-social behaviour.”

4.4. MOPAC must in exercising its functions have regard to the police and crime plan issued by MOPAC.

4.5. Under MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, approval of the strategy for the award of individual grants and the award of all individual grants (for crime reduction or other purposes) is a matter generally reserved to the DMPC (paragraph 4.8). The release of funding in accordance with the proposals set out in this decision form is accordingly to be approved by the DMPC. The delegation of responsibility for the finalisation of planning and contractual/grant arrangements, including relevant terms and the signing of agreements, to the Chief Executive Officer, is in accordance with the general power of delegation in paragraph 1.7, and more specifically paragraphs 5.4, 5.12 and 5.13.

4.6. Officers must ensure that the arrangements comply with the Financial Regulations and the Contracts Regulations.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The extension requested aligns with the crown commercial G Cloud framework contract that is presently in place with Buddi, the extension option is limited to 12 months only.

5.2. This procurement has taken account and complies with the GLA Group’s Responsible Procurement (RP) Policy. The GPS tags will continue to be leased from the supplier, not purchased, to increase the environment sustainability of the pilot.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. This pilot has the support of the Violence Reduction Unit as it seeks to test whether GPS can improve the management of the risk posed by prisoners being released following a conviction for knife related offences. Thus far in the pilot, GPS has been used not only to increase deterrence, enforcement and restrictive conditions to protect known victims and the public, but also to support engagement with relevant services and to specifically challenge individuals to change their lifestyle to move away from behaviour associated with increased risk of violence.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. For the purposes of this project, MOPAC are a joint controller with HMPPS.

7.2. MOPAC is a joint controller for the purposes of delivering an evaluation of the programme. The evaluation will require access to personally identifiable information (PII). Data will include standard PII covered under Article 6, special category data covered under Article 9 and criminal conviction and/or offence data under Article 10.

7.3. A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been produced to identify and minimise risks to data subjects. This document will be updated to reflect the extension of the pilot.

7.4. MOPAC also receives, processes and uses personally identifiable information for professional contacts in relation to this project. This is required for the management of the project and is processed under the lawful basis of public task, in the exercise of our official authority.

7.5. All providers funded by MOPAC are required to comply with the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

7.6. It is a requirement of the G-Cloud procurement process for the GPS monitoring provider to store and process all data within the UK.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

8.2. The Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021 contains within it a focus on: ‘Reducing inequalities in communities’ At the heart of our mission is a focus on setting an agreed standard and addressing the disparities we see across the city, making sure that a basic quality of service is there for everyone in London.

8.3. MOPAC is aware that young adult males are disproportionately represented in the cohort of those imprisoned for knife crime offences. Probation caseload data also shows that black or minority ethnic (BAME) groups are over-represented in the cohort of those serving a custodial sentence for knife crime offences. As a result of the disproportionate representation of all these groups within the group of those convicted of knife crime, it is envisaged that percentages of the groups included in the pilot will be broadly similar to the percentages of these same groups in the cohort of those given a prison sentence for knife crime offences.

8.4. The extent to which individuals from the above groups are included in the pilot will be monitored as part of the evaluation and continue to be reviewed, to ensure that any disproportionality can be addressed. The decision as to which case to include is taken by the allocated probation Offender Manager, based on the assessed risk and need of each case. Clear guidance has already been given to staff about the criteria for assessing cases and further guidance or training can be provided to mitigate any disproportionate impact of the pilot.

9. Background/supporting papers

9.1. PCD 715.