§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of information available to the police between January 1991 and 22 May 1995 has been placed on to the Phoenix system of the police national computer; which company has the contract for preparing the information to be placed on Phoenix; what percentage of files which have been attempted to be loaded have been rejected by the system in each week of September 1995; what was the expected number of files to be placed on the system for each week in September; what was the actual number which were loaded; and to what extent these results breached the contract. [41360]
§ Mr. MacleanThe Phoenix database holds specified categories of data. It is not possible to assess what proportion this forms of all information available to the police between January 1991 and 22 May 1995. Since Phoenix went live on 22 May 1995 the police have input information directly for new offenders. Conversion of existing records by keying data from scanned images of the microfiche records held by the national identification service, and the provision of specially written software for quality assurance and problem resolution is undertaken by PCL Group Ltd.
The percentage of records which have been loaded and rejected by the system in each week of September 1995 is shown in the table, together with the actual number of records loaded in each week. The expected average number of records to be placed on the system for each week over the life of the contract is 46,000. Discussions between the Home Office and PCL Group on technical and contractual matters are commercially confidential.
Records exported to Phoenix in September 1995 Week Total accepted Percentage rejected 1 7,178 28.23 2 3,087 30.14 3 3,866 27.84 4 765 23.5
Mr. O' BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been received from(a) police officers and (b) others about the quality of information on Phoenix. [41362]
§ Mr. MacleanWe have received no complaints about the quality of the information currently held on Phoenix from the police service or others.
Mr. O' BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Phoenix system on the police national computer went live; and when was it nationally announced to go live. [41358]
820W
§ Mr. MacleanThe Phoenix system went live on 22 May 1995. The police service was informed of this date on 24 March 1995.
Mr. O' BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many days in September 1995 the police national computer office attendant did not receive tapes from the company designated to provide information to go on to Phoenix. [41361]
§ Mr. MacleanTapes were not sent to Hendon data centre on nine of the 21 working days in September.
Mr. O' BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of(a) pre-1981 information and (b) post-1981 information is on Phoenix for direct access by the police. [41359]
§ Mr. MacleanAll criminal record data held on the police national computer was transferred to the Phoenix database on 22 May 1995. This comprised 2.8 million records originating before 1981 which consisted of name and criminal record office number and 2.3 million records originating after 1981 which also included details of convictions. Back record conversion is in progress which will add information currently held only on microfiche to selected earlier records. It is not possible to state precisely what percentage of all criminal record information held centrally or locally by the police service this represents.