GPS pilots 2021/22 contract award

The MOPAC GPS for knife crime pilot has been running successfully for 24 months. A new pilot testing the use of GPS with domestic abuse perpetrators was launched in early March 2021.

This decision seeks agreement to award an eleven month contract for the GPS pilots from 6 May 2021 to Buddi Ltd following a bid evaluation on the government Digital Marketplace. This procurement strategy was approved in PCD 849 and the contract cost of £907,935 will be funded from 2021/22 Mayoral Growth funds as well as from an allocation from the new council tax funding.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the contract award to Buddi Ltd from 6 June 2021 to 31 March 2022 at the value of £907,935

2. 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 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 since February 2019 and is now live in all London boroughs. The pilot provides a useful risk management tool for probation practitioners and to date over 420 offenders have been given GPS licence conditions as part of the pilot.

1.2 Following recent ministerial approval, a new MOPAC pilot to test the use of GPS tagging with domestic abuse perpetrators was launched in early March 2021.

1.3 PCD 849 approved the use of £550,000 from the 2021/22 Mayoral Growth fund to extend the MOPAC GPS pilots to 31st March 2022 (with monitoring of offenders who were tagged before 31st March to continue until of 30th September 2022 at the latest).

1.4 The evaluation of the GPS for knife crime pilot 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 interim evaluation report for the GPS for knife crime pilot was published on the MOPAC website in June 2020. A final process and performance evaluation of the pilot will be completed in the summer of 2021. MOPAC will also be publishing an impact evaluation looking at the period on tag, which will be completed towards the end of 2021. A full 12-month reoffending analysis will follow at the end of 2022. The GPS for domestic abuse perpetrators pilot will also be evaluated by MOPAC Evidence and Insight and will include impact analysis if sample size allows.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. To enable the continuation of the GPS pilot a procurement process is being completed using the government Digital Marketplace, as previously approved in PCD 849. Bid evaluation has been completed, which has confirmed that Buddi Ltd will be the preferred supplier for 2021/22 GPS provision.

2.2. During the 11-month contract period it is envisaged that up to 550 offenders will receive a GPS tag on release from prison. This will be made up of both knife crime offenders and high-risk domestic abuse perpetrators.

2.3. 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 serious 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 .

2.4. The total budget for the project also includes funding for dedicated probation project support to enable probation practitioners to identify, manage and enforce GPS cases. This resource will continue to provide policy development, data analysis and staff training expertise under the new pilots.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision requests approval to commission the GPS tagging pilots for knife crime and domestic abuse perpetrators over a period of eleven months to March 2022 under a contract award of £907,935.

3.2. Funding for the contract is earmarked within 2021/22 Mayoral Funds as outlined within PCD 849 at £550,000. An additional £350,000 of new council tax funding has also been committed to the GPS pilots along with £280,000 of 2020/21 carry forward monies. Delays with launching the domestic abuse pilot in 2020/21, caused by Covid, will enable £280,000 of 2020/21 budget allocation to be transferred as part of the GPS tagging budget in the new financial year.

3.3. The total allocation for GPS Tagging in 2021/22 is confirmed at £1,180,000. There is a further £550,000 of the approved new council tax funding to support planned commitments. The initial draw down of £350,000 from council tax precept will deliver 170 tags on top of current levels, with potential to build more capacity later in 2021/22 with the provider.

3.4. It is noted there are additional costs to support the project outside of the proposed contract award of £907,935. The total cost of the GPS pilots in 2021/22 is estimated at £1,117,935 as set out below.

Item Cost

GPS tagging and electronic monitoring contract £907,935

Lost tags; Missed appointments £60,000

MPS analyst; Probation project support £150,000

TOTAL £1,117,935

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 Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above. 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.

4.7 The Mayor's Office for Policing Crime is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £181,302 or above will be procured in accordance with the Regulations.

5. Commercial Comments

5.1. As approved in PCD 849, the government Digital Marketplace has been used to identify a preferred provider and will be used to finalise contract terms.

5.2. The new contract will be dated from 06/05/2021. Provision for all tags to be used before 06/05/2021 is included in the existing contract with Buddi Ltd which ends on 05/05/2021.

5.3. This procurement has taken account and complies with the GLA Group’s Responsible Procurement (RP) Policy. As with past MOPAC contracts with GPS suppliers, the tags will be leased rather than purchased to increase the environmental sustainability of the pilot.

5.4. Monitoring risks and value for money will be in accordance to the MOPAC contract regulation 2018.

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 or domestic abuse 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 data 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 and the inclusion of domestic abuse perpetrators.



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. The extent to which individuals from the above groups are included in the pilot is monitored through an Equality Impact Analysis document which is reviewed regularly 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 and training is provided to mitigate any disproportionate impact of the pilot.

9. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 PCD 849 - Criminal Justice System 2021/22 Commissioning Decisions

• Appendix 2 PCD 761 - Continuation of the GPS Tagging for Knife Crime Offenders on Licence Pilot