diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3cbaae479..6edd1d592 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -84,10 +84,10 @@
             <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
             <version>${version.slf4j}</version>
         </dependency>
-        <!-- 
+        <!--
         Commons lang slated for removal but kept for projects that accidentally depend on it
         through accidental transitive runtime dependencies.
-        
+
         For projects that depend on it for compile they will get an immediate failure as the
         scope is now runtime instead of compile.
         -->
@@ -291,62 +291,35 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>2.22.2</version>
                 <configuration>
-                    <argLine>-Duser.language=en -Duser.region=GB</argLine>
+                    <argLine>@{argLine} -Duser.language=en -Duser.region=GB</argLine>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
-            <!-- JACOCO added for code coverage -->
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                 <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>0.8.6</version>
+                <version>0.8.8</version>
                 <executions>
+                    <!-- Prepares the property pointing to the JaCoCo
+                    runtime agent which is passed as VM argument when Maven the Surefire plugin
+                    is executed. -->
                     <execution>
                         <id>pre-unit-test</id>
                         <goals>
                             <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
                         </goals>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <destFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-ut.exec</destFile>
-                        </configuration>
                     </execution>
+
+                    <!-- Ensures that the code coverage report for
+                    unit tests is created after unit tests have been run. -->
                     <execution>
                         <id>post-unit-test</id>
                         <phase>test</phase>
                         <goals>
                             <goal>report</goal>
                         </goals>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <dataFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-ut.exec</dataFile>
-                            <outputDirectory>${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/jacoco-ut</outputDirectory>
-                        </configuration>
-                    </execution>
-                    <!-- End Executions for unit tests -->
-                    <!-- The Executions for integration tests -->
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>pre-integration-test</id>
-                        <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <destFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-it.exec</destFile>
-                        </configuration>
-                    </execution>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>post-integration-test</id>
-                        <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>report</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <dataFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/jacoco-it.exec</dataFile>
-                            <outputDirectory>${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/jacoco-it</outputDirectory>
-                        </configuration>
                     </execution>
-                    <!-- End Executions for integration tests -->
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
-            <!-- end JACOCO -->
         </plugins>
     </build>
     <reporting>
@@ -359,52 +332,6 @@
         </plugins>
     </reporting>
     <profiles>
-        <profile>
-            <id>dev</id>
-            <build>
-                <plugins>
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>0.8.6</version>
-                        <executions>
-                            <!-- The Executions for merging -->
-                            <execution>
-                                <id>merge-results</id>
-                                <phase>verify</phase>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>merge</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                                <configuration>
-                                    <fileSets>
-                                        <fileSet>
-                                            <directory>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports</directory>
-                                            <includes>
-                                                <include>*.exec</include>
-                                            </includes>
-                                        </fileSet>
-                                    </fileSets>
-                                    <destFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/aggregate.exec</destFile>
-                                </configuration>
-                            </execution>
-                            <execution>
-                                <id>post-merge-report</id>
-                                <phase>verify</phase>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>report</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                                <configuration>
-                                    <dataFile>${project.build.directory}/coverage-reports/aggregate.exec</dataFile>
-                                    <outputDirectory>${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/jacoco-aggregate
-                                    </outputDirectory>
-                                </configuration>
-                            </execution>
-                            <!-- End Executions for merging -->
-                        </executions>
-                    </plugin>
-                </plugins>
-            </build>
-        </profile>
         <profile>
             <id>release-sign-artifacts</id>
             <activation>