Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
The Department’s former CDDTO commented that the Department had added complexity to the NLEDS programme...
Conclusion
The Department’s former CDDTO commented that the Department had added complexity to the NLEDS programme by trying to bring together the PNC and the PND into a single service. It had not understood the complexity of bringing that data together. In 2018, prior to the first reset and when she had still been in the Department, she and the former SRO had looked at the option of just focusing on the PNC, but at the time had 46 C&AG’s Report, para 16 47 Qq 27, 28 48 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.5, 1.6 49 C&AG’s Report, para 7 50 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21, Figure 5 51 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.24, 3.10, 3.11 16 The National Law Enforcement Data Programme not managed to get police forces on board with that approach.52 She commented that separating the PND and the PNC had significantly reduced the complexity of what the Department had to do and given it a much clearer development path.53
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2022 5.2 The Police National Database (PND) business case is currently being reviewed and refined by key stakeholders. The next steps on this business case are: • January 2022: Business Case approach was placed before a special meeting of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Intelligence Portfolio on 12 January and secured NPCC endorsement for programme approach. Business case secured support of PND Programme Board on 19 January. • February 2022: Business case secured approval of Commercial Advisory Board (CAB) on 9th Feb, Business Design Authority on 9 February, and Technical Design Authority on 10 February. • March 2022: Business Case will go before the Home Office Finance Investment Committee (FIC) 10 March for final approval. 5.3 This business case envisages that PND will progress to its target transformational state through evolving the current capability, rather than replacement from scratch. It will transform via an interim state that addresses technical debt, replaces the underlying database, and moves to Cloud. This is deemed to be the most cost-effective solution, whilst balancing risk and time to deliver. This approach will ensure continuous availability for the police, ongoing delivery of enhanced PND capabilities including integration with NLEDP, technology debt is addressed whilst also future proofing the PND service. 5.4 This interim state will include improved Serious and Organised Crime analytics, increase the number of users from 12,000 to 20,000, and share information with National Firearms Licencing system. 5.5 This business case envisages that PND in the target state will be able to support federated searches within LEDS, providing police officers with the single system to access both services. 5.6 The PND programme will provide an update to the Committee in April on its high-level plans, key milestones, and budget once its business case is approved by the Home Office Financial Investment Committee (FIC) in March 2022. For financial year 2022-23 a further £6.5 million has been allocated to transform and sustain the PND.