£40m for police IT roll out to go ahead

The Treasury has agreed to a further £40m funding for the national police Custody and Case Preparation software applications developed by the Police IT Organisation.

The scheme was put on hold earlier this month pending a decision on future funding because the Home Office was no longer convinced of its benefits.

Roll out of the software to a further 27 forces, including London's Met Police, will now go ahead as planned, says Pito.

The decision to go ahead was based on a revised business case produced by Pito and emphasising the efficiency savings provided by the system. Savings accrued during 2005/6 by the 20 forces using Custody and Case Preparation are estimated at £3.3 million, says the agency.

Pito is being absorbed into the new National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). NPIA chief executive Peter Neyroud was recently appointed as senior responsible owner for the National Strategy for Police Information Systems (Nspis) of which C&C is part.

Neyroud said: 'I am pleased to be able to clear the uncertainty and push on to complete the roll out.

'This programme has the potential to remove a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy for operational staff in order to improve performance.

'This is a challenging programme based on the fact that it requires major change in police business processes and the need to align these processes with other agencies.'