Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much additional funding will be allocated in the next Spending Review to the National Law Enforcement Data Programme (NLEDP); what the overspend is on the programme to date; how many deadlines the programme has missed to date; what plans she has to ensure confidence in the delivery of the NLEDP; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that programme on the effectiveness of policing.

The National Law Enforcement Data Programme (NLEDP) is replacing the Police National Computer (PNC) and Police National Database (PND) with the Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS).

The department has submitted a bid to HMT as part of the Spending Review which is ongoing.

The programme overspend is currently £45M. This excludes costs associated with risk and optimism bias.

The programme had expected to transition all users of PNC to LEDS by December 2021 and decommission PNC by June 2022. The programme is now targeting the transition of PNC users to LEDS by June 2023 and the decommission of PNC by December 2023.

The programme had expected to transition all users of PND to LEDS by June 2023 and decommission PND by December 2023. The programme is now targeting the transition of PND users to LEDS by September 2024 and the decommission of PND by March 2025.

The programme is exploring options for how the replacement of PNC and PND could potentially be delivered sooner.

The confidence in the delivery of LEDS is increasing with the implementation of a LEDS pilot service to 7 Police Forces allowing them to access Driving Licence Images at the roadside by Police issued mobile devices. The programme is planning for a wider roll-out of this capability from April 2021 onwards.

NLEDP has well documented benefits into how LEDS can support policing through efficiency and effectiveness savings. For example, since the LEDS pilot service went live it saves up to 66% of police time when performing a roadside identity check. The programme has also invested significant effort into reviewing the use of data, not just technology. The programme has completed a Data Protection Impact Assessment, consulted upon a new Parliamentary Code for LEDS data and established an independent group of privacy bodies to critique our work on data.

The programme has undergone extensive assurance, both internally within the department and externally throughout Cabinet Office and HMT. The programme has also recently appointed an External Review Team, with full support from senior Police Chiefs, which will review the full scope, remit and approach of the programme. Outcomes from this review will be agreed and taken forward with full co-operation of Home Office, Police Chiefs and Police IT Leads. This review will conclude in April 2021 with full involvement of Cabinet Office and Treasury.

The Department remains committed to completing the delivery of NLEDP, realising the benefits of LEDS and delivering police effectiveness and efficiency savings. These include cashable reduction in running costs and a wide range of broader benefits such as reducing the time to identify a person of interest, public time savings, improved searches and reduced training overheads.