§ 14. Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to reduce administration costs of the police. [142657]
§ Mrs. RocheWe are implementing proposals from the recent report "Making a Difference: Reducing Police Paperwork", and on 28 November we issued police forces in England and Wales with a revised "Manual of Guidance for the Preparation, Processing and Submission410W of Files". This will reduce considerably the number of forms officers have to complete when they pass cases to the Crown Prosecution Service.
We are also investing in new communications technology to minimise the paperwork that officers are required to process.
§ 33. Dr. PalmerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he will take to improve the computer systems used by law enforcement agencies in order to ease administrative burdens on police. [142676]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe Government are providing £46 million to police forces to automate key administration of justice tasks. The electronic handling of information by the police and within the criminal justice system will substantially reduce the administrative burden on those organisations.
We are providing £37 million to implement a modern management information system across the police service. This will improve management of performance in forces while reducing the burden of providing statistics and information on performance.
The Home Office is also providing £500 million for the introduction of a modern, secure radio system for the police, Airwave. That system will meet officers' needs for voice communications as well as the provision and receipt of data from any location. Considerable police time will be saved from that more efficient electronic method of working.