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R3

Police IT procurement review

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

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (Dec 2004)

DeliveryHome Office says in progress (May 2007)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The procurement of IT systems by the police should be reviewed to ensure that, wherever possible, national solutions are delivered to national problems.

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

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Inquiry asked the Home Office to review police IT procurement for national solutions. In May 2007, the department stated that the implementation of actions from an initial procurement review was vested in the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) on 1 April 2007 (Home Office, May 2007). In September 2021, the National Audit Office (NAO) found that a committee of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) coordinated procurement, while each police force remained responsible for establishing, procuring, and maintaining its own local information and communications technology (ICT) systems (Gareth Davies, Sep 2021; Gareth Davies, Sep 2021).

Sources

Home Office, May 2007
Gareth Davies, Sep 2021
Gareth Davies, Sep 2021

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 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

The independent review team is due to report its findings on stage 1 to Ministers by the end of February 2005. The findings of the review will be published.

Response document: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report

Delivery

●Home Office says in progress · 22 May 2007

Following the initial consideration of police information technology procurement completed under the PITO End-to-End Review in 2004 and subsequent review of its outcomes by ministers, the implementation of actions arising from this work was vested in the NPIA on 1 April 2007.

From: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Fourth Progress Report

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●National Audit Office · 8 Sep 2021

Each police force is responsible for establishing what local ICT systems it requires, and then procuring and maintaining them.

From: The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Gareth Davies, Comptroller and Auditor General

Earlier findings (1)

●National Audit Office · 8 Sep 2021

Currently, this role is filled by a committee of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which the police created to better coordinate the procurement of ICT systems.

From: The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Gareth Davies, Comptroller and Auditor General

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.