§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a table, similar to that in the Official Report, 14 November 1978, column 138, showing estimates of acceptances for settlement for the whole of 1978.
§ Mr. JohnThe broad groups of acceptances for settlement for which estimates have been made for 1978 are given in the table below, together with the published figures for 1977.
the past three years on computers for which his Department is responsible; what was the expenditure on equipping, programming and laying out of each computer centre in England and Wales in the 597W same period; and what portion of such expenditure was spent on computers for police purposes and non-police purposes.
§ Dr. SummerskillInformation is not available in the form asked for, but expenditure on computers with which the Department is concerned is set out below. The figures relate to financial years except where indicated:
1. HOME OFFICE AND METROPOLIAN POLICE Joint ADP unit—mainly pay-roll, statistics prison index £000's Capital expenditure Current expenditure on goods and services 1975–76 1,100 1,002* 1976–77 162 1,445* 1977–78 1,273 2,115* Total 2,535 4,562 It is estimated that over the period about 55 per cent. of computer time has been for police purposes. * Calendar years 1975–77 inclusive.
2. OTHER POLICE PURPOSE Police national computer 1975–76 1,740 1,637 1976–77 349 1,829* 1977–78 987 2,262 Total 3,076 5,728 * Revised figures.
Police scientific research and development 1975–76 — 110 1976–77 — 194 1977–78 254 64 Total 254 368
'C' department, Metropolitan Police 1976–77 935 — 1977–78 35 — Total 970 —
Vehicle fleet, Metropolitan Police 1976–77 122 — 1977–78 17 — Total 139 — 598W
3. OTHER NON-POLICE PURPOSE Private mobile radio frequency assignment 1975–76 156 57 1976–77 26 125 1977–78 10 85 Total 192 267
4. SUMMARY Home Office and Metropolitan police joint ADP unit 2,535 4,562 Other police purposes 4,439 6,096 Other non-Police purposes 192 267 Total 7,166 10,925
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will update his written answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 7 July 1977, relating to computers; and if, differentiating between police computers and non-police computers, he will list the computer centres in England and Wales for which he is responsible and the number of employees in each centre; what is the capacity in terms of each computer so listed; what kind of information is being programmed; and what use is made of the information so programmed.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe information requested is as follows:
Police national computer unit
This unit, which operates on behalf of police authorities throughout Great Britain, has about 420 staff, three central processors with a core capacity of 1 million words and holds information relating to the prevention and detection of crime. The service is available only to the police, except for information on vehicle ownership supplied by Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre, Swansea.
Home Office and Metropolitan Police joint automatic data processing unit
This unit has about 600 staff, four central processors with a total core capacity of 704K words and information on both Metropolitan Police matters—chiefly pay, personnel records, traffic tickets, catering accounts, Inner London magistrates' courts accounts, forensic work—and on Home Office matters—chiefly pay, a location index of inmates of prison service establishments and statistical work, including criminal statistics.
Radio regulatory computer installation
Six Home Office staff are employed solely in respect of this installation, the majority of programming work being carried out by commercial contract. The four central processor units have a total core capacity of 256K words and deal with 599W the allocation of frequencies in connection with licensing the use of private mobile radio.
Metropolitan Police vehicle fleet management system
Five Metropolitan Police office staff are employed solely in respect of this system. The installation has one central processor and a core capacity of 32K words. Operational information about Metropolitan Police vehicles is programmed in and used for fleet management.
Metropolitan Police C department computer system
This unit is staffed by members of the joint ADP unit and the number of staff is included in the figure for that unit. The size of the machine is classified information. The system contains information on crime, criminals and their associates and is used in the prevention and detection of crime.
Other computers
Smaller installations include one with a capacity of 28K words used in stock control at Home Office supply and transport depots; a computer with 192K words capacity used for research and programme development and a computer with 16K words capacity holding details of materials dealt with by the forensic science service in the course of operational and research work. The latter two installations are part of the technical support provided by the Home Office to police forces in England and Wales.
Research and development on computerized systems Research and development on equipment Research and development on the chemistry and physics of fingerprints Total expenditure £000s 1968–69 … … … 41 176 9 226 1969–70 … … … 68 184 8 260 1970–71 … … … 119 398 8 525 1971–72 … … … 317 319 18 654 1972–73 … … … 335 503 71 909 1973–74 … … … 373 784 53 1,213 1974–75 … … … 378 1,223 66 1,667 1975–76 … … … 432 993 97 1,522 1976–77 … … … 558 1,498 122 2,178 1977–78 … … … 586 1,162 96 1,844 The figures for 1968–69 are estimated. Total expenditure for other years is at out-turn figures.