Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 6 November (HL1962), how much of the financial benefits delivered by BlueLight Commercial since its foundation are attributable to procurement of (1) goods such as police uniforms and equipment and (2) services such as consultancy and professional advice.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Further to the answer I gave on 6 November (HL1962), of the £287 million of estimated financial benefits BlueLight Commercial have worked to deliver within policing in England and Wales since 2020/21, an estimated £168 million are attributable to goods and £93m are attributable to services.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 1 November (HL1776), which is the force currently being onboarded to the Single Online Home system, and which are the two remaining forces not using the system.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
At 14 November 2024, Lancashire Constabulary is currently being onboarded to the Single Online Home platform. Avon and Somerset Police and West Yorkshire Police are not currently using the platform. Future onboarding plans are under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent on setting up and maintaining BlueLight Commercial since its foundation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 2020/21 and 2024/25 BlueLight Commercial has been funded by the Home Office to provide commercial expertise and assistance to policing to identify and make efficiency savings. The Home Office has provided up to £26.4m in funding to Bluelight Commercial during that time.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 12 November (HL2136), what plans they have to link the Single Online Home system directly to police forces' case management systems so that information does not need to be manually transferred between the two.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office funds the police-led Digital Public Contact programme to develop and deliver a range of policing public contact services including the Strategic Integration Hub (i-Hub) which links the Single Online Home platform to forces’ record management systems and reduces the requirement for manual transfer of information.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 12 November (HL2136), what plans they have to upgrade the Single Online Home system to allow it to recognise a person returning to report a subsequent incident by basic information, such as their name and address alone, rather than requiring their full personal information each time a report is made.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is funding the police-led Digital Public Contact Programme to deliver pilots which enable a member of the public to have a secure log-in and saved details when reporting crimes.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 12 November (HL2136), what plans they have to expand the functionality of the Single Online Home system, for example by allowing the reporting of suspicious behaviour rather than just potential crimes.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Members of the public can report suspicious behaviour to local forces through the ‘Tell us about’ tab within Police.UK websites on the Single Online Home platform.
Additionally, the StreetSafe tool, also accessed via Police.uk force websites, allows the public to report where they do not feel safe for environmental or behavioural reasons. This enables forces to build an evidence base of where communities have suspicions or feel unsafe for a variety of reasons.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of the Board of Directors of the Police Digital Service have served on the board of directors of a public limited company; and whether they will list (1) these members, (2) the companies on the board of which they serve or have served, and (3) how long they have served on these boards.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tony Eastaugh CBE was appointed on 19 August 2024 as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Police Digital Service (PDS). Any changes to these arrangements will be a matter for the PDS. More information about the leadership of the PDS is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/about-us/.
Appointments to PDS roles, the required skills of PDS employees and what professional memberships they should hold are a matter for the PDS.
The governance arrangements of the PDS Board, including the Articles of Association and Board Membership is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/governance/. Details of current and former directorships can be found on the on Companies House Website.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many specialist employees the Police Digital Service has who are (1) members of the British Computer Society or (2) Fellows of the British Computer Society.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tony Eastaugh CBE was appointed on 19 August 2024 as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Police Digital Service (PDS). Any changes to these arrangements will be a matter for the PDS. More information about the leadership of the PDS is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/about-us/.
Appointments to PDS roles, the required skills of PDS employees and what professional memberships they should hold are a matter for the PDS.
The governance arrangements of the PDS Board, including the Articles of Association and Board Membership is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/governance/. Details of current and former directorships can be found on the on Companies House Website.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect a permanent Chief Executive Officer will be appointed to lead the Police Digital Service.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tony Eastaugh CBE was appointed on 19 August 2024 as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Police Digital Service (PDS). Any changes to these arrangements will be a matter for the PDS. More information about the leadership of the PDS is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/about-us/.
Appointments to PDS roles, the required skills of PDS employees and what professional memberships they should hold are a matter for the PDS.
The governance arrangements of the PDS Board, including the Articles of Association and Board Membership is available on the PDS website: https://pds.police.uk/governance/. Details of current and former directorships can be found on the on Companies House Website.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what mechanism the cost of the Single Online Home system is recovered from the police forces which use it and on what basis may that cost vary.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Single Online Home services for the public are kept under review and the Home Office funds the police-led Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme to deliver enhancements to the platform as determined by Policing’s requirements.
The Single Online Home is 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.