NPCC update

I was delighted to present at the National Police Chiefs’ Council recently alongside Tony Blaker, Transformation SRO for PDS. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight some of the great work that PDS has delivered over the past year and reflect on where we’ve come from and what we look like now.

We spent some time talking about our in-flight programmes:

• Cloud: Which is giving forces the flexibility to store files and tools remotely in the cloud and amending usage as requirements change.
• Digital Case File:Our programme which aims to replace physical forms with digital case files integrated with force and CPS systems and with legislative requirements built in.
• Data Driven Commercials: Which is giving policing one place to leverage its buying power, informed by a collective understanding of the national digital, data and technology procurement landscape.
• Digital Evidence: Our programme working to develop common standards and methods for using digital evidence with rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO).
• Law Enforcement Capability Model: Is developing a national framework to help forces understand the capability levels of their services, identifying gaps between current levels and future plans and allowing for targeted change.
• Video Enabled Policing: This programme is using video and tech to enable police officers and staff, simplifying processes and freeing up time.
• Data Office: Ensuring a coordinated response for policing in all issues in relation to data. It aims to achieve this by giving direction, support and accountability so that the relationship between data and technology is sufficiently balanced to meet current and future needs of the service.

As part of our presentation we gave a real focus to programmes that have closed; we’re really proud that not only have these programmes delivered some great work, but that even after completion we’re still having engagement around them with forces and partners. Not only does that help us to get a true measure of the outcomes that they’ve generated but it also offers additional value back in to forces by allowing those ongoing conversations.

The completed programmes we spoke about included:

• The National Enabling Programmes (NEP) which saw 38 forces adopt the Microsoft 365 suite of products as a single common and secure national blueprint, provided a national process, standards and mechanism for Police user IDs, making the process simpler and more secure for forces and established a national cyber security service to monitor UK police systems.
• National Standards implemented a new governance structure to standardise police standards across the country and established a single platform where those standards are hosted, providing clarity to police forces.
• Thanks to the Government Convergence Framework all police forces are now routing their emails securely over the internet and are now using police.uk instead of pnn.police.uk when sending emails.
• Frontline Digital Mobility saw a national review of mobile digital devices across policing (taking in not just smartphones but also devices like drones) , helping to establish a national picture of FDM maturity and leading to greater collaboration, alignment and potential investment.

Our commercial team also continues to secure large-scale commercial opportunities for UK policing, to enable policing organisations to cost-effectively purchase and deploy technology. In the 2021-22 financial year, the PDS commercial team provided £27m in cashable/ cost avoidance to forces. This number has been validated by the Home Office. We have saved policing money and these savings will continue.

I look forward to keeping you updated on our exciting work.

Ian Bell

CEO, PDS