§ Lord Taylor of Blackburnasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any progress has been made towards the agreement of a contract for the Public Safety Radio Communications Service. [HL562]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)The Chief Executive of the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) issued a letter of instruction to proceed to British Telecom plc before Christmas, authorising them to invest in the project infrastructure. Negotiations on the Framework Arrangement and the model service contract are continuing and my honourable friend the Minister of State at the Home Office, Mr Clarke, hopes they will be concluded by the end of January. PITO will be asking individual police authorities to sign service contracts by the end of February.