Minister: Serco could face ‘penalties’ for delays in fitting released offenders with tags
Jess Phillips has suggested that Serco could face “penalties” for delays in fitting some offenders with electronic tags after they have been released from prison.
PA media reports she told LBC News radio “It’s not the Government who has made the backlog in tags, it is a contract signed with Serco in May this year.”
Yesterday it was reported that prisoners freed early to ease overcrowding in jails have not been fitted with electronic tags despite it being a condition of their release, prompting criticism from a parliamentary watchdog.
Phillips said:
I have been in meetings with regard to ensuring that … any perpetrators of domestic abuse, are put to the top of the list, to ensure that they are being fitted with those tags.
The prisons minister, I believe, has had some pretty robust meetings, and is meeting with Serco today, but the contract certainly has in it the allowances for there to be penalties.
I’m almost certain that in this case, that unless something massively improves very, very quickly, that all of those things will be considered.
Officials have declined to say how many of the 1,700 prisoners in England and Wales who were allowed out after serving 40% of their sentences last week were not given tracking devices. It is understood to be “hundreds” rather than “dozens”, a source told the Guardian.
Key events
Richard Partington
Richard Partington is the Guardian’s economics correspondent
UK national debt has hit 100% of the country’s annual economic output, the highest level since the 1960s, underscoring the challenge facing the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she prepares for next month’s budget.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said the figures demonstrated the challenging state of the public finances left by the Conservatives, which would force Labour to take “tough decisions” to rebuild the economy.
“When we came into office, we inherited an economy that wasn’t working for working people. Today’s data shows the highest August borrowing on record, outside the pandemic. Debt is 100% of GDP, the highest level since the 1960s,” he said.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the government’s debt pile as a share of gross domestic product increased by 4.3 percentage points over the year to August to reach a size equal to the annual value of everything produced in the economy.
Government borrowing – the difference between public sector spending and income – was £13.7bn, an increase of £3.3bn on the same month a year earlier, and the third highest August deficit since monthly records began in January 1993.
The latest snapshot of the public finances from the ONS showed that while tax receipts grew strongly in August, this was outweighed by higher expenditure – largely driven by benefits uprating and higher spending on public services due to increased running costs and pay.
Read more of Richard Partington’s report here: UK debt hits 100% of GDP, the highest level since 1960s
Richard Tice has been out beating the drum for Reform UK in a series of media appearances ahead of their conference later today. He defended leader Nigel Farage’s record of appearances in parliament, claiming that “no one works harder than Nigel Farage.”
Farage has spoken seven times in parliament since he was elected.
Speaking to PA Media, Reform UK’s deputy chair said:
As leader, you’ve got a huge job, because you’re campaigning everywhere. You’re sorting out the professionalisation with the chairman and so we’re sharing and sharing alike and that’s an important part of it. You can’t be everywhere all the time. It’s really difficult. But let me tell you, no one works harder than Nigel Farage.
Tice also defended Farage’s interest in campaigning abroad during the US election, telling PA Media:
As a leader of a party that is now becoming mainstream, international affairs, our relationship with our most important, strategic international partner – the US – is very important and the world will be a safer place if Donald Trump wins the presidential election. Nigel’s strong relationship with Donald Trump is actually to the benefit of this country and it’s quite right that he cements and strengthens that.
In a busy morning for him, Tice has also appeared on GB News, where he claimed that Reform UK, which was third in the July general election on vote share, he said that his party was the true opposition to the newly elected Labour government. He told viewers:
No one’s got more visibility, frankly, than Nigel on social media. I’m getting millions of views on mine. The other three MPs, likewise. We’re out there. We’re making a noise. Frankly, we are the real opposition. The Tories have vacated the premises, we hardly ever see them in the House of Commons.
I’ve spoken 16 times, I’ve challenged the zealot-in-chief, Ed Miliband. I’ve challenged the home secretary. I’ve challenged the health secretary on the failings of the NHS. So look, we’re holding them to account. That’s what people expect of opposition parties.
Yesterday Farage was embroiled in a row after he claimed he received official parliamentary advice against holding in-person surgeries for his constituents in Clacton – then his claim was immediately called into question by parliamentary insiders.
Phillips: government will deliver pilot scheme on 999 call handling of domestic abuse in 2025
On the morning media round Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, was also promoting government plans to embed specialist teams in police forces’ 999 control rooms with experience to deal with calls about domestic violence.
She told Sky News:
We have to stop this happening in the first place, and the government has a mission to halve the incidences of violence against women and girls in a decade.
And so much of that work is going to have to be about the prevention of perpetration, the changing of attitudes around healthy relationships within education, this is a mission that is going to take every Government department.
I don’t want to just give somebody who’s taken a beating a good [999] call. I want them not to take that beating in the first place.
Phillips said she was in discussions with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) over how many stations would be included in a pilot scheme, expected to launch in 2025.
In her appearance on Times Radio, PA Media reports Phillips said:
Actually working with police over the last couple of weeks, I think for the first time I am noticing how much they recognise there is a national emergency [of violence against women and girls], a total national emergency, and they are, I have to say, quite delighted that the Government is putting quite so much priority into it.
And so we will work with police forces across the country and from the centre to make sure that when we are asking them to do things, that can be delivered safely and reasonably.
I’m not going to do what the last government did, where they just announced a load of things that then meant nothing changed on the ground, literally nothing.
In comments released overnight, home secretary Yvette Cooper said “What we’ve seen is if there is proper domestic abuse expertise [on 999 calls], it means that you can get the right response to the calls that come in and proper understanding of the seriousness of domestic abuse as a crime and how lives are at risk.”
A domestic abuse protection order pilot is due to be launched in November that will place tougher sanctions on domestic abusers if they fail to stay away from their victims
Health secretary Wes Streeting has given a blunt one word answer on social media to a call by the Institute of Economic Affairs to “abolish the NHS” and replace it with a form of social insurance. “No,” said Streeting.
Jess Phillips: Starmer has lived by the rules and is breathing down people’s necks to make sure everybody does
Jess Phillips has defended prime minister Keir Starmer over accusations that he has taken too many gifts while being a politician, saying he has lived “entirely by the rules” and was breathing down the necks of his ministers to make sure they were doing the right thing.
The Home Office minister and MP for Birmingham Yardley told Times Radio this morning:
The prime minister has lived entirely by the rules that have governed every single member of parliament, certainly since I’ve been there – he received gifts and things, and he declared them. Let me tell you, it feels like he’s breathing down my neck to make sure that we’re doing things right in my department.
We get invited to theatre performances and things, and you go along and you support the arts, and people want you to go to their things because they want it supported.
So if you can find me a politician who has never done anything like that, has never ever, you know, gone to their local theatre to watch something then, well, I think they’re lying to you.
Asked whether she would accept similar gifts to the prime minister, Phillips rather jokingly replied “I don’t like the Arsenal.”
There is also more news on troubled water company Thames Water. Some of the companies biggest lenders are considering easing repayment terms as it fights for survival.
It has said it has enough cash to keep its operations running until the end of May next year, but has announced it was seeking fresh repayment terms.
Thames Water was privatised by the Margaret Thatcher Conservative government in 1989. The company has continued to pay out dividends to shareholders in recent years despite accruing a debt exceeding £14bn.
You can read a report on the latest development from Anna Isaac here: Thames Water lenders ponder easing repayment terms as it fights to survive
Graeme Wearden
The UK government has borrowed over £6bn more than forecast so far this financial year, after a jump in borrowing last month.
The Office for National Statistics has reported that the UK borrowed £13.7bn in August, which is £3.3bn more than in August 2023.
It’s the third highest borrowing for any August since 1993, and more than £1bn higher than the £12.4bn City economists had expected.
Read more on our business live blog: UK consumer confidence tumbles as households fear ‘painful’ budget; UK debt hits 100% of GDP – business live
PA Media is carrying some more quotes on the threat that financial penalties might be applied to Serco for a failure to electronically tag all of the prisoners released in England and Wales as part of the new Labour government’s attempt to deal with the prison overcrowding crisis it inherited from Rishi Sunak in July.
It quotes a Ministry of Justice spokesperson saying:
We are holding Serco to account to address delays in fitting some offenders with tags, and will apply financial penalties against the company if this is not resolved quickly. While this issue is ongoing, we have prioritised tagging domestic-abuse offenders to make sure their licence conditions, such as staying away from their victims, are strictly followed.
For its part, Serco has said:
Since we took over the electronic monitoring contract in May we have been working hard to reduce the number of people waiting to have a tag fitted. We work closely with the MoJ and the probation service to fit tags swiftly and prioritise cases based on risk profiles.
Where an individual is not at home when we call to fit a tag the time taken can be longer. We prioritise making another visit so that people are tagged as soon as possible.
Minister: Serco could face ‘penalties’ for delays in fitting released offenders with tags
Jess Phillips has suggested that Serco could face “penalties” for delays in fitting some offenders with electronic tags after they have been released from prison.
PA media reports she told LBC News radio “It’s not the Government who has made the backlog in tags, it is a contract signed with Serco in May this year.”
Yesterday it was reported that prisoners freed early to ease overcrowding in jails have not been fitted with electronic tags despite it being a condition of their release, prompting criticism from a parliamentary watchdog.
Phillips said:
I have been in meetings with regard to ensuring that … any perpetrators of domestic abuse, are put to the top of the list, to ensure that they are being fitted with those tags.
The prisons minister, I believe, has had some pretty robust meetings, and is meeting with Serco today, but the contract certainly has in it the allowances for there to be penalties.
I’m almost certain that in this case, that unless something massively improves very, very quickly, that all of those things will be considered.
Officials have declined to say how many of the 1,700 prisoners in England and Wales who were allowed out after serving 40% of their sentences last week were not given tracking devices. It is understood to be “hundreds” rather than “dozens”, a source told the Guardian.
Welcome and opening summary …
Good morning, welcome to our live UK politics coverage for Friday. Here are your headlines …
The main “on diary” event today is the Reform UK conference in Birmingham. The party had the third-highest vote share in July’s general election, and all five of its MPs are expected to speak today. Events will begin shortly after midday and run until around 5pm.
It is Martin Belam with you. The best way to get in touch with me, especially if you spot typos, errors and omissions is by email: martin.belam@theguardian.com.