Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they propose to meet the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioners collectively to outline their policies for reducing crime and making communities safer; and if so, when.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Policing Minister attended the most recent Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) General Meeting on Thursday 23 May. The Minister congratulated PCCs on their recent election, thanked them for their support with the Government’s priorities and highlighted recent successes.

The Home Secretary also delivered a pre-recorded video message, following the Minister’s speech, reinforcing the Government’s support for PCCs and setting out priorities on policing and crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided directly to (1) the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and (2) the National Police Chiefs Council, since 1 May 2020.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Home Office Ministers and senior officials have regular bilateral meetings with the Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

Since May 2022, the Home Secretary has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the APCC six times, and on two of those occasions the Policing Minister also joined. The Policing Minister has separately held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the APCC five times since May 2022. The Home Office Permanent Secretary and the Director General for Public Safety Group have met with the Chair of the APCC a combined total of seven times since May 2022.

Government records for pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC since May 2022 are incomplete. The Home Secretary has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC four times since April 2023. The Policing Minister has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC eight times since January 2023. The Home Office Permanent Secretary and the Director General for Public Safety have met with the Chair of the NPCC a combined total of twenty-six times since May 2022.

Alongside engagement through bilateral meetings, both the Chair of the APCC and Chair of the NPCC sit on the National Policing Board (NPB), the Home Office’s most senior policing board. The NPB meets quarterly and is chaired by the Home Secretary, with Home Office Ministers attending where relevant. The NPB has met 7 times since May 2022. The terms of reference and minutes are published online on Gov.uk, with minutes from the most recent meeting in April due to be published shortly.

In the 2023/24 financial year, the APCC were provided with a £1m grant, and a further £1m has been provided in the 2024/25 financial year, to give them additional capacity to help strengthen the PCC role and tackle key challenges across the criminal justice sector.

Between financial year 2020/21 and 2023/24 the NPCC have received a total of £10,113,939 from the Home Office as part of the NPCC Operating Model programme, which exists to deliver a stronger central strategic coordination for policing via a NPCC Strategic Hub. Separately to that, the NPCC receive a range of other funding from the Home Office for specific programmes or areas of work that are considered on a case-by-case basis

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many times they have had pre-arranged meetings with (1) the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and (2) the chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, since 1 May 2022.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Home Office Ministers and senior officials have regular bilateral meetings with the Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

Since May 2022, the Home Secretary has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the APCC six times, and on two of those occasions the Policing Minister also joined. The Policing Minister has separately held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the APCC five times since May 2022. The Home Office Permanent Secretary and the Director General for Public Safety Group have met with the Chair of the APCC a combined total of seven times since May 2022.

Government records for pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC since May 2022 are incomplete. The Home Secretary has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC four times since April 2023. The Policing Minister has held pre-arranged meetings with the Chair of the NPCC eight times since January 2023. The Home Office Permanent Secretary and the Director General for Public Safety have met with the Chair of the NPCC a combined total of twenty-six times since May 2022.

Alongside engagement through bilateral meetings, both the Chair of the APCC and Chair of the NPCC sit on the National Policing Board (NPB), the Home Office’s most senior policing board. The NPB meets quarterly and is chaired by the Home Secretary, with Home Office Ministers attending where relevant. The NPB has met 7 times since May 2022. The terms of reference and minutes are published online on Gov.uk, with minutes from the most recent meeting in April due to be published shortly.

In the 2023/24 financial year, the APCC were provided with a £1m grant, and a further £1m has been provided in the 2024/25 financial year, to give them additional capacity to help strengthen the PCC role and tackle key challenges across the criminal justice sector.

Between financial year 2020/21 and 2023/24 the NPCC have received a total of £10,113,939 from the Home Office as part of the NPCC Operating Model programme, which exists to deliver a stronger central strategic coordination for policing via a NPCC Strategic Hub. Separately to that, the NPCC receive a range of other funding from the Home Office for specific programmes or areas of work that are considered on a case-by-case basis

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to complete the procurement of a new supplier for mobile radio and data services for the emergency services; and when they estimate it will be possible to shut down the Airwave service.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Any relevant information concerning this procurement process will be met in due course via the government commercial disclosure portal Contracts Finder and in the Accounting Officer Assessments published routinely on the Home Office website.

With respect to the estimated shutdown date of Airwave, the current National Shutdown Target Date is 31 December 2029.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the Law Enforcement Data Service to be fully operational and the Police National Computer to be retired.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS) is being delivered to enable the retirement of the legacy Police National Computer (PNC). The priority is to ensure that LEDS delivers full parity with all current PNC capabilities, using a modern technology foundation which enables the further evolution and modernisation of UK policing. The programme plan is to achieve this by March 2026 to align with the end of the current PNC support contract.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Law Enforcement Data Service will have cost by the time it is fully operational.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

All relevant information regarding the progress and cost of this project will be published in the Accounting Officer Assessments, published routinely on the Home Office website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to increase the number of interactive services provided to the public by the Single Online Home programme; and if so, whether they will publish those plans.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2016, the Home Office has invested £103m in the police-led Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme to create greater choice for the public and support police in managing contact volume more efficiently. During this time, the DPC Programme has delivered the Single Online Home, a national web-based platform and digital police station where the public can report incidents, apply for licences, and provide and discover information about crime in their area. Single Online Home functionality is also available through the Police.uk mobile phone app.

At October 2024, 40 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales plus British Transport Police have been onboarded onto the platform and one further force is currently onboarding. Discussions are ongoing with the remaining two forces. DPC continues to support onboarded forces in making use of the wide range of Single Online Home services available. There are currently no plans to mandate all forces to make full use of the platform.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to require all police forces in England and Wales to make full use of the Single Online Home programme; and if so, whether they will publish those plans.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2016, the Home Office has invested £103m in the police-led Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme to create greater choice for the public and support police in managing contact volume more efficiently. During this time, the DPC Programme has delivered the Single Online Home, a national web-based platform and digital police station where the public can report incidents, apply for licences, and provide and discover information about crime in their area. Single Online Home functionality is also available through the Police.uk mobile phone app.

At October 2024, 40 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales plus British Transport Police have been onboarded onto the platform and one further force is currently onboarding. Discussions are ongoing with the remaining two forces. DPC continues to support onboarded forces in making use of the wide range of Single Online Home services available. There are currently no plans to mandate all forces to make full use of the platform.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent to date on the development and delivery of the Single Online Home programme.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2016, the Home Office has invested £103m in the police-led Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme to create greater choice for the public and support police in managing contact volume more efficiently. During this time, the DPC Programme has delivered the Single Online Home, a national web-based platform and digital police station where the public can report incidents, apply for licences, and provide and discover information about crime in their area. Single Online Home functionality is also available through the Police.uk mobile phone app.

At October 2024, 40 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales plus British Transport Police have been onboarded onto the platform and one further force is currently onboarding. Discussions are ongoing with the remaining two forces. DPC continues to support onboarded forces in making use of the wide range of Single Online Home services available. There are currently no plans to mandate all forces to make full use of the platform.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent since April 2015 on (1) establishing the Emergency Services Network, and (2) running the existing Airwave service.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The ESMCP 2021 Full Business Case estimated the total cost of providing critical emergency services communications between 2015/16 and 2036/37 was £11.3bn. This is the combined Airwave and legacy contracts and costs of the replacement ESN service. It assumed Airwave and legacy system costs of approximately £450m annually compared with ESN at around £250m. The annual running cost of ESN compared to Airwave and legacy costs is expected to save over £200m a year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the technology underlying the new Emergency Services Network will be capable of meeting all the operational requirements of the emergency services, including 'device-to-device' communications used when the wider network is unreachable, for example in rural locations.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office fully understands the capabilities needed by the emergency services to transition safely to ESN, and is considering a number of options for off-network comms Airwave will only be shut down when the conditions for a safe and timely transition to ESN have been met.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the achievements of the National Enabling Programme are maintained and further developed by police forces, following the closure of that programme in April 2022.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Enabling Programme (NEP) rolled out the Microsoft 365 (M365) suites and the Identity and Access Management capability to 40 forces. In the last year, the capability saw significantly increased use which further facilitated police collaboration.

The Police Digital Service completed the roll out to the remaining forces in 2022-23 and is facilitating the growth of these services. The Home Office is working with the Police Digital Service and policing to identify opportunities to improve the business-as-usual service and enable greater exploitation through the M365 Productivity Project.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what cost savings have resulted from police forces in England and Wales using the services of Blue Light Commercial since its establishment in June 2020.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since BlueLight Commercial’s foundation in the 2020/21 financial year they have worked to deliver financial benefits within policing in England and Wales of £287 million. This includes cashable savings, efficiency savings, cost avoidance and revenue generation activity.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require all police forces in England and Wales to publish regularly up-to-date information on the time taken to answer (1) 999 calls, and (2) 101 calls.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

999 performance data, including time taken to answer calls, is available for forces in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland on the police.uk website.

Data is available per force from November 2021 and new data is published monthly, one month in arrears. Members of the public can order the data to show average response times by each force, and the number and percentage of calls answered under 10 seconds, between 10 and (under) 60 seconds, and at 60 seconds or longer.

Unlike 999, there has been no national, consistent dataset for 101 performance data. Officials have worked closely with Policing to obtain agreement on definitions for the key metric of ‘Average Wait Time to Answer’ for 101 calls.

The Home Office will continue to work with Policing towards enabling consistent 101 performance data to be published.

Found: Baroness Hoey, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, Baroness Ludford, Lord Moynihan, Lord Triesman and Lord