The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is beginning to look at setting up a digital service to manage recalls of offenders on probation.
It has gone public with plans for a discovery project, with a possible escalation to beta, publishing a market notice for support from the private sector.
The ministry is apparently leaving its options open, not specifying details of the length of the work or a projected budget and reserving the right to issue a separate tender for phases after the discovery.
It says the purpose of the work is to understand the needs of probation staff in making appropriate and timely recall decisions and whether a digital service could help. Staff to be able to see relevant information about parolee and understand the procedures and guidelines for making recall decisions.
The initiative has been prompted partly by the MoJ review into the case of Joseph McCann, who was given 33 life sentences at the Central Criminal Court in 2019 for a series of violent sexual attacks committed while he was supervised on licence by the National Probation Service, having been released from prison automatically earlier that year.
Front image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
Image in text by Automobile Italia, CC BY 2.0
