Recommendations & Conclusions
18 items
2
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Department’s failure to deliver ESN creates a significant cost for the emergency services who must pay to fund ESN and to maintain Airwave for longer. Delays have meant the Department itself has actually spent less than it expected on ESN, but the ultimate users of ESN have had to …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and will continue to engage with users to determine how best to support transition activities, acknowledging scope to reduce local costs. The ESN business case is being reviewed to reflect the CMA ruling and …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Department cannot yet prove to the emergency services that ESN will be good enough to replace Airwave. There is now a broad consensus among emergency services and the programme’s Independent Assurance Panel that ESN can work and that it remains the right approach. The Department believes that a widening …
Government response. The government agrees and has developed a comprehensive control plan, covering all prototyping, testing, and user transition activities, with durations agreed with users. This plan is currently under user consultation and will be agreed before the end of 2023.
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
We remain concerned the Department does not have the capability to successfully bring the various elements of ESN together. ESN is a complex programme which was set up using a commercial approach that the Department admits is suboptimal but has decided not to change. Persisting with the same commercial structure …
Government response. The government agrees and will commission the Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) to monitor, comment on, and assure the integration plans of bidders for the User Services contract, their delivery, and dedicated resources, as well as overall integration with the mobile …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
It is still not clear how the Department will ensure that there are clearly defined responsibilities or plans in place for operating ESN as a live service, raising questions about whether ESN will provide the intended benefits for the emergency services. The expected benefits from ESN will only materialise if …
Government response. The government agrees and is actively working to define and implement the ESN operating model, including clarifying supplier roles, updating the Service Integrator definition, developing a new user billing model, and a newly appointed Live Service Manager to complete the …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Department risks creating a new monopoly supplier in EE, which could reduce long-term value for money. EE provides the main network infrastructure, but although it has made progress extending network coverage, it has not delivered on time, and still has work to complete. The Department has not introduced competition …
Government response. The government stated the new EE contract will be open book with a gain share mechanism to protect against excessive profits. It will allow reprocurement of ESN suppliers in two years and confirms the program adheres to international technical standards.
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office (the Department), the Emergency Service Network (ESN) programme’s Independent Assurance Panel, and representatives of the police, fire and ambulance services.1
Government response. The government describes the ongoing work of the Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) with the programme, noting its continuous assessment, endorsement of strategic direction, and plans for future reports and tasking based on programme progress.
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The NAO found that although replacing Motorola may have been necessary, Motorola was regarded as the market leader and replacing it does not guarantee that ESN will succeed.25 The Department said it had received enough interest from potential bidders to be confident it could find a replacement, but it would …
Government response. The government agrees, stating the Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) will continue to provide critical assessment and challenge throughout the programme, and international research indicates a wide range of companies will bid to replace Motorola.
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
Since 2015, the market for the technology underpinning ESN has matured, so we asked whether ESN is now easier to deliver. The Department agreed that the programme was no longer at the cutting edge of technology.45 It told us that several other countries are now taking a similar approach to …
Government response. The government agrees, stating the Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) has confirmed other countries are on a similar journey, reinforcing the programme's own international comparative research. The IAP will continue to provide critical assessment.
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Department now intends for ESN to use technology that is ‘as off-the-shelf as it can be’.48 The Independent Assurance Panel told us that the technology ESN is proposing to use is now more credible than when ESN started, in part because telecommunications standards have moved on, and now cover …
Government response. The government agrees, stating that commercial officials and independent experts have reviewed contract terms for value, and the new EE contract will be open-book with a gain-share mechanism. The contract allows for reprocurement of suppliers after two years, and the …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The emergency services expect to decide for themselves whether ESN is ready.52 The police representative said they had been reassured that no force will be forced to adopt ESN.53 The ambulance service was also positive, but despite a more centralised approach, there is no-one with central authority to mandate that …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's points on emergency services' readiness, confirming that an ESMCP control plan, including user transition and Airwave shutdown activities, has been drafted, consulted with users, and will be agreed by end 2023, with phases agreed …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
Emergency services were confident that ESN would be able to meet their needs. The ambulance and police representatives said they felt ESN was taking the right approach, and the fire service representative emphasised the importance of ESN meeting the requirements agreed in 2015, which it considered had only changed slightly.59 …
Government response. The government agrees and has drafted an ESMCP control plan, which includes prototyping and testing, with durations agreed with users. The plan is currently in consultation and will be agreed by end 2023.
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Independent Assurance Panel agreed that testing at scale is crucial, including at real-world events such as the coronation and Notting Hill Carnival.61 We asked the Department about its previous attempts at testing parts of ESN. The Department said it had needed to be re-run some tests three times, but …
Government response. The government agrees and has drafted an outline ESMCP control plan, which includes prototyping and real-world testing, with a target date of end December 2023 for agreement after user consultation. A full Programme Plan and business case will follow in …
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
As with most digital programmes, the various elements of ESN need to work seamlessly together for ESN to work;70 This ‘systems integration’) is one of the main risks the Department needs to manage.71 For example, the push-to-talk technology needs to integrate with handsets for individuals and devices in vehicles and …
Government response. The government agrees on the importance of systems integration, committing to commission the IAP to monitor and assure integration plans of bidders for the User Services contract by July 2024, and to strengthen the Programme Management team with specialists and …
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
We queried whether the Department has the capability to manage the systems integration73 given its previous approaches had not worked.74 It agreed that it needs to strengthen its capability. When we asked if it was acquiring people with experience from other complex programmes, it said it was talking to other …
Government response. The government agrees with the need to strengthen its systems integration capability, committing to commission the IAP to monitor and assure integration plans by July 2024, and to continue strengthening the Programme Management team by recruiting specialists and partnering with …
HM Treasury
27
Recommendation
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
The Department has not yet decided who will be responsible for running ESN and has paused work planning the live service operations.91 The fire service said it had seen limited lack information about how this would work, for example, it was not clear whether Home Office would run ESN as …
Government response. The government agrees on the need for clear responsibilities and plans for ESN live operations, committing to define and implement the overall Programme Operating model by March 2024, including establishing a User Services supplier as the Service Integrator and a …
HM Treasury
28
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
In 2015, the Home Office awarded EE a six-year contract to provide the main network infrastructure for ESN. It intended for this contract to be subject to competition in the future, to avoid being locked into a single supplier and to help take advantage of 81 Qq 30, 53–54 (27 …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation, stating that the new contract with EE will be awarded on an open book basis with a gain share mechanism. Crucially, the contract will be structured to allow for reprocurement of all ESN …
HM Treasury
29
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
We asked whether it would have been better to have a consortium of suppliers providing the main network infrastructure, rather than just EE.95 The Department agreed that it would prefer to be able to take advantage of a range of networks, but it felt that introducing other suppliers now would …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's point on supplier diversity and commits to structuring the new EE contract with open book and gain share mechanisms, and enabling reprocurement of all ESN suppliers around two years post-programme completion to allow for …
HM Treasury
30
Conclusion
Sixty-Fourth Report - The Emergency Ser…
Accepted
We asked the Department how it would ensure EE did not obtain a monopoly position as Motorola had done with Airwave. The Department said that to avoid being locked into EE, it would ensure all suppliers complied with telecommunication standards. It said it wanted to return to an open market …
Government response. The government agrees and will implement an open-book contract with EE including a gain-share mechanism and allowing for reprocurement of all ESN suppliers in about two years post-completion. The programme will also adhere to international technical standards.
HM Treasury