Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Emergency services confident in ESN, but demand formal assurance and contract verification
Conclusion
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 Although the police representative agreed the Department understood their requirements, they also told us that they needed to check that the requirements were included in the latest ESN contracts. Before accepting ESN they expected formal assurance from the Department’s leadership, which they intend to independently verify. The police expected this to cover network performance as well as coverage. They said they would be concerned if time for testing was reduced.60
Government Response Summary
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.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: end December 2023 3.2 The department has drafted an outline plan, the ESMCP control plan. 3.3 The control plan shows the main building blocks, dependencies and sequencing, and includes elapsed time contingency. The control plan includes all elements of prototyping, and testing (including real-world testing), as well as the activities leading to user transition and Airwave shutdown. The durations of all phases that affect users (for example, formal ‘service acceptance’ and transition from Airwave) have been agreed with users. The control plan is now out for consultation with users, and it will be agreed before the end of 2023. The control plan will be turned into a full Programme Plan after the new User Services supplier is confirmed, and their delivery plan is known. In 2024, the programme will return to the Major Projects Review group with a business case, budget and clear plan, prior to the award of the User Services contract.