Written question asked by Edward Leigh (Conservative) on Wednesday, 3 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 December 2003. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 December 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether initial problems in the implementation of the Airwave service for the police have been overcome; and whether he is able to quantify the benefit to the police of this service as indicated in the Government's response to the 64th Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2001-02, Public Private Partnerships: Airwave.

Answer: Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether initial problems in the implementation of the Airwave service for the police have been overcome; and whether he is able to quantify the benefit to the police of this service as indicated in the Government's response to the 64th Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2001-02, Public Private Partnerships: Airwave. [142107] Ms Blears: Yes. The initial problems have been overcome. The Airwave service is now available to more than half of the police forces. It is fully operational in nine police forces, and over 30,000 users are already enjoying the benefits of modern, secure, high-quality communications. A Business Benefits project has been set up under the Airwave programme. It will provide a full quantitative analysis of the benefits of Airwave compared with previous police radio systems and will monitor the realisation of those benefits.

Secondary information