No-holds-barred report exposes serious shortcomings in police ICT provision
Ministers have been urged to agree a comprehensive shake-up of police ICT that would see the scrapping of the Police Information Technology Organisation and the 43 independent IT departments of forces across England and Wales.
The call comes from the long-awaited findings of the End to End Review of the performance and structure of PITO, the Government's chief agency for police information systems.
Its full report to the Home Office, apparently completed in February but somehow not published until 22 June, is nothing less than scathing.
The review concludes that since being set up in 1998, PITO "has largely failed to meet the needs of the police, partly through its own short-comings but principally because PITO as a concept is fundamentally flawed."
Among other criticisms, it points out that PITO has been unable to influence police IT expendure "to any significant degree". The report adds: "Beyond the large projects, the success of which has to say the least been mixed, PITO’s contribution to police ICT has been marginal".
The agency also suffers, says the review says, from "very low" credibility overall with the police. A customer survey commissioned for the report found that over 60 per cent of respondents were quite or very dissatisfied with PITO’s performance in designing or developing solutions. IT Directors and senior police officers were overwhelmingly negative about PITO as a systems provider – to the extent that the consultants who conducted the survey said the dissatisfactions levels were "without precedent". The position today, says the report, "has probably gone beyond the point of no return".
PITO's deep-rooted problems stem, says the report, from its funding coming almost exclusively directly from the Government rather than its customer, the police. It adds: "The present structure and organisation of police ICT lacks clear definition or purpose, results in confused lines of responsibility and is almost certainly poor value for money."
Instead, police need to take ownership and accountability for their ICT provision, recommends the review. It proposes that PITO be replaced by a Police National ICT Group tasked with managing the implementation of an agreed police ICT strategy, either as a separate body in its own right or as part of the Government's proposed National Police Improvement Agency.
A further key element will be the setting up of a national network of 'Combined Police Delivery Groups' (CPDGs) between clusters of individual forces who would align national and local ICT strategic plans. Each police force, where it has not already someone in place, should also appoint a Chief Information Officer, says the report.
The present situation of 43 independent police IT departments is "not sustainable, both on grounds of effectiveness and efficiency", it concludes. The review suggests that through collaboration, forces could consolidate their IT functions by moving a shared services model. Research by PriceWaterhouseCoopers presented in the report indicates that such a move could potentially save at least £60 million per year.
The review stresses the Government will need to consult widely on its proposals before proceeding further.
In a statement, PITO Chief Executive Phillip Webb welcomed the report and said it would be examining the key issues raised in more detail over the coming months.
"In the meantime, PITO has a considerable work programme that the police services is relying on use to deliver", he said. "While that is our immediate focus, we will also play a full and active part with the Home Office and our other partners to improve the provision of police ICT and to share the development of the National Police Improvements Agency."
Related Links
The Report of the Review of the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) – February 2005 (PDF: 1.18MB)
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