From BBC UK today:
Almost 9,000 people in England and Wales required to have an electronic monitoring tag did not have one, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
They are likely to include violent offenders and prisoners released from jail who need to be checked on.
The NAO said, as of March 2026, prison authorities were reviewing around 8,900 cases of individuals recorded as having an active monitoring order but no tag.
In Scotland?
Scotland has subjected its electronic monitoring system to independent expert review and research which identified strategic and developmental issues such as underuse, integration gaps and technology limits but no breakdowns in operation. There is no equivalent to the recent National Audit Office report, above, exposing systemic failures in data integrity or tag deployment.
What key factor might explain the better performance of the Scottish system?
Reliable basic RF technology with good contractual oversight with monthly performance audits and real-time data access by government.
https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Electronic-Monitoring-in-Scotland-Report.pdf
Detail on this:
Scotland has a single national provider (G4S) under a direct contract with the Scottish Government. It primarily uses reliable basic RF technology for curfews. This setup has operated stably for years ‘with fewer moving parts’. https://communityjustice.scot/whats-new/insights/introduction-to-electronic-monitoring/
England & Wales have a multi-supplier “tower” model managed by HM Prison and Probation Service. It involves separate providers e.g., Capita for live monitoring/service, G4S or others for tags/hardware. There is a mix of RF and GPS, with much heavier reliance on GPS for movement tracking in an expanded programme. This complexity has contributed to integration issues and delays. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubacc/34/report.html
Is there anything not done better in Scotland after two decades of protection, at least in part, from Westmonster?
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Talking-up Scotland 
No. Not in the public sphere. I think there is still a public service culture in Scotland. England seems to favour the Del Boy approach to public service. Thatcher “there is no such thing as society” would never have succeeded in Scotland.
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