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R2

PLX system introduction

Bichard Inquiry · The Bichard Inquiry Report · Issued 22 June 2004 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (Dec 2004)

DeliveryHome Office says completed (May 2006)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The PLX system, which flags that intelligence is held about someone by particular police forces, should be introduced in England and Wales by 2005.

Bichard Inquiry, The Bichard Inquiry Report · 22 Jun 2004 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Home Office stated in May 2006 that the recommendation was implemented (Home Office, May 2006). Previously, in December 2004, the department reported that the Police Local Cross-Check system was on track to index individuals about whom police forces held information, with an interim version scheduled for early 2005 and the full version planned to be accessible to forces by the end of that year (Home Office response, Dec 2004).

Sources

Home Office, May 2006

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

The Government accepted all 31 recommendations collectively: the Home Secretary's written statement of 11 January 2005 records that "All 31 recommendations were accepted by the Government when the Inquiry reported in June 2004". No document states an acceptance decision for any single recommendation. The response shown against each recommendation is the Home Office's answer to it in the first progress report, sent to Sir Michael Bichard on 22 December 2004 and placed in the Library of the House on 11 January 2005. The Government then reported against the recommendations three more times, in November 2005, May 2006 and May 2007; the updates shown are taken from those reports.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted · 22 Dec 2004

Words of: Home Office, Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report, 22 December 2004

In the interim, the Police Local Cross-Check system (PLX) is on track to provide an index of individuals about whom information is held by police forces. The first version of this (Interim or I-PLX) will be available to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) by February 2005 and will be accessible to police forces via a National Nominal Index (NNI) from March 2005. Together with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the CRB, we are working towards having all forces flagging and sharing their intelligence data using these systems by December 2005. We are also working with ACPO and the CRB to ensure regular updating of NNI/I-PLX (perhaps as frequently as monthly) and to examine the scope for interim returns in the case of any individual causing particular concern. The full, dynamically updated version of PLX will be accessible to forces by the end of 2005.

Response document: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report

Delivery

●Home Office says completed · 25 May 2006

Recommendation 2 implemented.

From: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Third Progress Report

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.