My honourable friend the Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing (David Hanson) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

As part of our commitment to ensure the safety and security of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games a contract has been signed between Airwave Solutions Ltd and the National Policing Improvement Agency for the enhancement of the Airwave radio service, which provides core radio communications for police, fire and ambulance services.

This £39 million investment will fund an increase in the capability of the Airwave system in time for the 2012 Games, which will mean it can cater for thousands more users from all of the emergency services. This will benefit all 2012 host venue police forces, fire and ambulance services.

This investment will provide capacity to support the additional policing requirements at all Olympic venues, coverage within Olympic venues, capability to support public order operational activities involving several thousand officers within confined geographical locations, and capability to address the risk of a spontaneous major incident while continuing to support business as usual and Olympic requirements.