§ 15. Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about the implementation of the POLNET computer network; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydRepresentations about the POLNET computer network have been received from members of the Hampshire police authority and from a number of my hon. Friends.
§ Mr. ColvinMy hon. Friend will be aware that the Havant district of the Hampshire police authority has conducted a successful experiment with a POLNET computer network over the past few years and now wishes to extend it county wide. For that purpose, it has applied for approval for £5 million expenditure over three years. Will the Home Office give favourable consideration to that application, which would save Hampshire the equivalent of the work of 400 policemen a year and help to combat the 22 per cent. increase in crime in the county last year?
§ Mr. LloydNationally, the equipment grant is up by about 25 per cent. this year, which is not sufficient, I am afraid, to meet all the information technology schemes that have been put forward, so we are currently considering a specific grant for IT projects. We shall not be in a position to decide priorities until the police national network for communications between police forces, into which the POLNET scheme would need to fit, has been evaluated later this year.