The Home Office has given the go-ahead for a £50m project to equip 10,000 police officers with handheld computers.

The scheme will help reduce bureaucracy by allowing officers to file reports and access information on the beat rather than having to return to their station.

Tony McNulty, minister for policing, said that police across 27 of the 51 forces in England, Scotland and Wales will benefit.

"We are investing in new technology to make crimefighting more effective and to save officers' time," he said.

"This is just one element of a range of improvements we are delivering to cut unnecessary bureaucracy, exploit new technologies and enable police officers to spend more time on frontline policing."

Forces were asked to apply for a portion of the £50m funding to the National Policing Improvement Agency(NPIA), detailing how they would manage procurement and staff training.

The technology and infrastructure to support the handheld computers will be in place by March 2009.

Richard Earland, chief information officer at the NPIA, said improved access to information will keep officers on the beat.

"Officers who have access to databases, such as the Police National Computer, command and control, and intelligence systems while out on patrol, will spend less time returning to the station and more time on the frontline," he said.

The scheme was recommended in Sir Ronnie Flanagan's review of policing earlier this year.

The 27 forces involved are:

• The East Midlands Collaboration, (made up of Nottinghamshire Police, Leicestershire Constabulary, Lincolnshire Police, Derbyshire Police and Northamptonshire Police)
• Bedfordshire Police,
• Cambridgeshire Constabulary,
• Association of Police Forces in Scotland (all eight Scottish forces),
• British Transport Police,
• Staffordshire Police,
• Cheshire Constabulary,
• Essex Police,
• Lancashire Constabulary,
• Hertfordshire Police,
• Thames Valley Police,
• Yorkshire collaboration (North Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police, Humberside Police)
• Kent Police,
• The Metropolitan Police Service.