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Government announces new powers for Prison Governors, commits to digital transformation of the courts, and pilots satellite tracking for offenders.

Reforming the country’s prisons was at the heart of this year’s Queen’s Speech. The speech outlined the Government’s intention to bring in a Prison and Courts Reform Bill during this Parliament, which will give Prison Governors more freedom over how to run their prisons, with a focus on rehabilitation, healthcare and education. The Bill will also make provision for the reform of courts, ensuring the “delivery of faster and fairer justice for users by making better use of technology”, fulfilling the commitments outlined in the Ministry of Justice’s Single Department Plan.

Reform Prisons will be created, giving governors more say over how budgets are spent. Governors will be able to opt out of national contracts and enter into contracts on their own, and will also have the power to establish their own advisory boards to make use of external expertise. To coincide with the Queen’s Speech, the MoJ released an announcement reiterating their commitment to “replace decrepit, ageing prisons with modern establishments suitable for the needs of prisoners today.”

The same announced also revealed that 8 police forces have been chosen to pilot satellite tracking – tags. The tags will track the movement of offenders via GPS, and will “lead to new options for the management of offenders and the reduction of reoffending.” The forces taking part in the pilot are Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northampton.

Digital technology will be the key enabler to the success of reforming the court system. The Bill aims to harness technology to increase efficiency across all areas of the courts system, reducing delays and generating significant savings. Better use of digital will help HMCTS move more business online and out of the court estate.

Following the event last year on digital transformation in the criminal justice system, and the April pre-market engagement event with NOMS on the Prisoner Telephony Service procurement, techUK looks forward to working with HMCTS, NOMS and other MoJ stakeholders over the coming Parliament as they work to implement the provisions of the Bill.

>> Check out the techUK response to the wider aspects of today's Queen's Speech