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On 15 June 2021 we saw Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) publish its ‘Digital, Data and Technology Strategy’ setting out its vision to transform services through digital technology, with the need to modernise estates more important now than it ever has been before.

The strategy touches on the challenges its estates have faced due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how digital adoption is vital if we are to put the service users at the core.

We want services that are fit for the internet era, that meet the expectations of people that use them and work on them, and allow us to better adapt to the need for remote working, learning and relationships.

Jo Farrar 

Second Permanent Secretary, MoJ Chief Executive, HMPPS

The strategy outlines HMPPS’s strategic priorities for 2021-2022 with its vision for 2024. Included below are the 5 objectives with examples covering how this will be achieved. You can view the full list of 2021/2022 commitments via the strategy here.

1. Providing staff with up-to-date IT equipment and applications.

(2021/2022): Start to deliver the Prison Technology Transformation Programme (PTTP) and roll out MoJ Official. Roll out new laptops and desktops for staff and prisoners. Safely move off Quantum and onto cloud-based platforms in prisons.

2. Replacing legacy systems with simpler, clearer, faster digital services.

(2021/2022): Develop a long term strategy for replacing existing systems by 2024 such as NOMIS, Oasys & Delius. Develop a plan for and start delivering digital education in prisons. Continue to grow and improve live services such as the digital Prisoner Escort Service and Manage a Prison Offender Manager (POM) case services. Implement key functionality and infrastructure that staff need ahead of probation unification.

3. Giving people in its care the digital tools and technology required to support their rehabilitation.

(2021/2022): Start journey to ensure every prisoner in closed prisons has access to a laptop or tablet by implementing in-cell technology in 9 prisons. Roll out in-cell technology in the whole Youth Custody Estate to improve conditions for young people.

4. Making video conferencing accessible for everyone.

(2021/2022): Reprocure video conferencing in probation and design a more effective and efficient way to manage remote supervision. Develop an integrated video conferencing strategy across HMPPS including wider MOJ.

5. Capturing, storing and sharing high quality data across services

(2021/2022): Develop a digital product that supports Governors by providing data insights to manage prisons. 2. Implement data standards across all our digital product teams so that we can harness the power of data we have, reduce the burden on staff to duplicate data entries and improve the quality of the data we collect and share.

Through techUK’s Digital Justice work, it will commit to working with suppliers and stakeholders including MoJ Digital & Technology and HMPPS to help deliver this vision. Already techUK is working with stakeholders to drive digital transformation across the criminal justice system – including close working with Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals (HMCTS) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).  There are clear opportunities for digital to transform service delivery across the justice space and techUK looks forward to working with its members and stakeholders to support HMPPS’s 2024 vision as they move from recovery into reform through the Prison and Probation Reform programmes.