Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to give police forces routine access to the database holding location data from electronic monitoring tags for use in criminal investigations.

Relevant electronic monitoring information is shared with the police where appropriate. This includes sharing non-compliance information in court-imposed bail cases, where police are the Responsible Agency, and notifying the police of individuals subject to electronic monitoring in the community where monitoring is delivered by EMS.

Responsible Agencies can make an external agency request for information regarding a device wearer to EMS, and this response can be provided within 2 hours and sometimes more quickly, when necessary.

As part of our Acquisitive Crime approach, we also share location data to help the police identify whether wearers were at the scene of a specific acquisitive crime, such as a burglary or vehicle theft, during the minimum window of opportunity to assist with their investigation. Acquisitive Crime will be made available to all remaining forces by the end of this Parliament.

Meanwhile, we are working with the National Police Chiefs Council to explore what further opportunities there might be to improve data sharing.