§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the purpose of the Police Scientific Development Branch; when it was set up; what are its terms of reference; what are the projects that it is currently engaged upon; what is the capital cost for each project; and what was the annual expenditure on each project for the past 10 years.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe branch was formed in 1963 as a result of recommendations made by the 1962 Royal Commission on the Police, which in its report—Cmnd. 1728—proposed a central Government unit, charged with the planning of police methods, the development of new equipment, and the study of new techniques, so as to enable the police service to deal promptly and efficiently with changes in the pattern of crime and in the behaviour of criminals. The branch's work is described more fully in chapter VI of the 1977 report of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary—Cmnd. 545. Appendix IX of that report lists the main projects currently undertaken by the branch. Similar information for previous years is given in earlier reports by Her Majesty's chief inspector. Capital expenditure on buildings, plant and machinery is common to all projects and is not apportioned separately. For the purposes of the last part of the question, the considerable number of projects has been grouped under subject headings. Expenditure under each heading was as follows:
Expenditure on the development of computerised systems in local forces includes contributions by those police authorities which were concerned with joint experiments with the branch.