§ Mr. SweeneyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is being taken by police forces in England and Wales to improve the effectiveness of their fingerprint departments.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe effectiveness of fingerprint departments is being improved by the development of quality assurance measures and performance indicators to ensure the best use of resources and staffing; by the enhancement of training brought about by the establishment of a national training school at Durham; and by the introduction of automated fingerprint recognition equipment in the majority of fingerprint bureaux.
§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the projected cost of the48W proposed national automatic fingerprinting recognition system when it is expected to be in service; how it will be financed; what advantages the proposed system has over the fingerprint file put into operation by a consortium involving police forces in England and Wales; and what consideration he gave to adopting the consortium fingerprint file as the national system.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe national automated fingerprint identification system is expected to have cost some £45 million by the time that it comes into service in 1996–97. It will be financed as a common police service. Because it is being designed specifically to meet national requirements and because it will incorporate more up-to-date technology, the NAFIS will offer advantages of cost, accuracy, and reliability over any system which is at present in use in the United Kingdom. Under the established rules of government procurement, a system of this size must be the subject of an open competition. It will be open to all suppliers, including those of the consortium system, to bid for the contract.