G4S handed £13m monitoring contract

Sep 21 2012

The private firm at the heart of the Olympics security shambles has just been awarded a £13 million contract by the Scottish Government to bring in satellite tracking for offenders in Scotland.

The SNP administration at Holyrood announced it has signed a deal with G4S to use satellite navigation technology to monitor the whereabouts of people. The security firm has a "proven track record" in providing this type of monitoring, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said.

The contract was announced on the same day MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee said that the UK Government should set up a register of "high-risk providers who have a track record of failure" and that G4S should be the first company on it.

G4S only told organisers two weeks before the start of the London Games that problems with its scheduling system meant it could not guarantee enough guards to secure the Olympics. At the last minute 4,700 troops and police had to be drafted in.

Lewis Macdonald, Labour justice spokesman at Holyrood, criticised the Scottish Government for awarding the contract to G4S.

"Despite the international embarrassment of (G4S) failing to deliver Olympic security and refusing to hand over the money paid to them by taxpayers, the Scottish Government has handed them even more of our hard-earned cash," he said. "No contract should be awarded to that company until a full review of what went wrong this summer is conducted.

"It is shocking that Strathclyde Police had to incur the costs of security at Hampden for Olympic football because of G4S failures and now, with a record of non-performance, the Scottish Government chooses to give them yet another opportunity to let down taxpayers and citizens across the country."

G4S is the largest provider of electronic monitoring technology in the world. It has contracts in 15 countries including England, Wales, France, the Netherlands and the United States.

The five-year Scottish Government contract to monitor offenders begins next April. GPS technology will be used to continually track an offender's whereabouts, allowing authorities to see if they are complying with any restrictions on their movements. If someone breaches the terms of their community sentence or release from prison on licence, an alarm will be triggered, allowing the authorities to respond immediately.

Mr MacAskill said: "The award of this contract allows us to utilise the very latest technology to keep our communities safe. Using satellite tracking rather than just radio frequency technology to ensure offenders comply with the strict terms of their release into the community is a significant step forward. It gives our law enforcement agencies greater tools in their armoury and as the world's leading provider of this technology, G4S have a proven track record in this area."