To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the development and provision of electronic custody systems for the police; when such systems are planned to be available; what the expected cost of such systems is expected to be; what the cost of their development to date has been; and what the original planned date for such systems to be available was. (176075)

All police forces now have an approved electronic custody system. 40 police forces are ‘live’ at all sites. The remaining three police forces are ‘live’ in at least one site, but still in the process of implementation in their remaining sites. Implementation will be complete in all forces at all sites by mid-2008. The total cost of implementing the electronic custody systems is not available, as these systems have usually been implemented as part of a suite of other systems (including records management, case preparation and crime and intelligence). It was originally planned that all forces would be ‘live’ by 31 March 2006.

Although this target was not achieved, all these electronic custody systems are now providing a significant contribution to the reduction in bureaucracy in the police service and wider criminal justice system.