§ Mr. PageTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made as to the effect on expenditure on emergency police services of the introduction of the APCO 25 service;
(2) what liason has taken place with other Departments to calculate what savings might be made using the APCO 25 system for all emergency services.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Home Office is in regular touch with a number of other Government Departments on all aspects of radio communications for the emergency services, including the benefits which might be gained from adopting a single standard for all services. Preliminary discussions have been held on the potential benefits of both the APCO 25 and TETRA standards, but final decisions on which of these offers best value for money will have to wait until the two standards have been finalised and products based on them are available.