§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will indicate the functions of the Home Office large major enquiry system.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe Home Office large major enquiry system is a computer system which was developed to assist the police service in the investigation of major crimes. A typical system consists of three modules: an index of names, addresses, telephones, vehicles categories and sequences of events; a document and action management system; a free text retrieval and typing system.
Information can be exchanged between systems in different forces by means of tape transfer. The Home Office has set up a central facility which forces can use if an investigation outgrows the capacity of a force system.