§ 8. Mr. Hugh Bayley (City of York)What assistance his Department is giving to enable police forces to acquire new communications systems. [53515]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kate Hoey)The Police Information Technology Organisation, a Home Office non-departmental public body, is managing the public safety radio communications project. This is a major public-private partnership project designed to replace the police service's existing radiocommunications infrastructure with a modern one.
PITO is also working with the police service to implement an enhanced police national network to modernise telecommunications
§ Mr. BayleyMay I congratulate my hon. Friend on her appointment as a Minister and welcome her to her place on the Front Bench? Is she aware that the police radios currently in use in North Yorkshire do not communicate with many parts of the county—not just isolated valleys in the dales and moors, but stores in the centre of York? Does she realise that North Yorkshire police urgently need new radios? Will she either consider extending to North Yorkshire the trial for the public safety radio communications project in Lancashire, or make some other proposal to speed up the purchase of new radios for North Yorkshire?
§ Kate HoeyI thank my hon. Friend for his congratulations. We all recognise the difficulties that 12 North Yorkshire police have with their current radio system, which is why the force is scheduled to be among the first to be provided with the new service.
§ Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport)Are the present communications systems sufficient to enable the Home Office to maintain contact with the Chilean aircraft waiting at RAF Brize Norton?
§ Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton)Will my hon. Friend assure the House that the police will have the resources necessary to ensure that they have proper communications equipment? Earlier this year, I had cause to write to the Home Secretary about the position in West Yorkshire. Because of the change in the valuation of the band D rating, the West Yorkshire coffers contained £6 million less than had been budgeted for. It is essential that police forces, particularly West Yorkshire, are assured of the resources necessary to purchase equipment to combat crime in the county.
§ Kate HoeyMy hon. Friend will be aware that the additional funding available to police in England and Wales in the next three years should be sufficient, given efficiency improvements and the reinvestment of savings, to help meet extra spending pressures that may arise.