Written question asked by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 21 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 October 2005. It was answered by Charles Clarke (Labour) on Monday, 5 December 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

IMPACT System

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the IMPACT system will be operational; and what assessment he has made of progress towards the target date of March 2007.

Answer: The Government's Second Progress Report on implementing Sir Michael Richard's recommendations was released to Parliament on 7 November 2005. The IMPACT programme, set up to deliver many of the key recommendations, will deliver incremental improvements in police information management and information sharing systems over the next five years.The first application, a national index of names (the IMPACT Nominal Index) will be deployed into a Child Abuse Investigation Unit in every force in England and Wales by the end of 2005. This will enable police forces to check where information is held on individuals by other forces.The next phase of development will provide police forces with a direct national link between their six core systems, including intelligence, by the end of 2007.

Secondary information