Baroness Wheatcroft
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Police National Computer
Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts(2 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
Unfortunately, as I said, this relates to the delay in the rollout of the new system. The new system was delayed because of unforeseen complexity. I should state for the record that statistics around the police national computer are mind-boggling in their complexity: 30 million people’s information; 68 million vehicle records; 61 million driving licence holder records; 1.34 million daily transactions; 114 million checks per annum. It has to work; therefore, there was no viable alternative.
Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)
My Lords, could the Minister tell the House whether external consultants were involved in deciding that this contract should go to Fujitsu and, if so, how much were they paid for coming to the rather defeatist conclusion that there was no alternative?
Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
The process was subject to all the usual Cabinet Office rules. I do not know how much external consultants were paid; I will find out.