The Emergency Services Network (ESN) is designed as a mission-critical communications service, with resilience built into its end-to-end architecture, governance and operational arrangements. It will provide police and other emergency services with priority and pre-emption over ordinary commercial mobile traffic, helping to maintain emergency communications during periods of network congestion or major incidents.

ESN has contracted for high levels of service availability and is working with delivery partners and cross-government resilience forums to ensure that ESN can withstand and recover from incidents affecting power, telecommunications and other supporting infrastructure.

Where telecommunications capacity is reduced, ESN users will be prioritised over commercial users. ESN resilience planning also includes enhanced coverage, resilient transmission, use of satellite connectivity for some remote sites, deployable coverage where appropriate, and contingency planning for severe weather and power disruption, including the deployment of at least 2000 additional generators for power outages. If, despite these measures, ESN coverage is unavailable in a particular area, users will be able to communicate using Tetra Direct Mode Operation, which does not rely on network coverage.

The Home Office has undertaken, and will continue to undertake, testing and risk assessment as ESN is developed and implemented. For security and operational reasons, it would not be appropriate to disclose detailed contingency arrangements or specific technical mitigations.

Additionally, individual police forces and emergency service organisations also maintain their own business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements for scenarios affecting communications infrastructure.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme’s revised Business Case (PBC 2025) was approved by the Home Office Investment Committee on 18 December 2025.

The PBC has subsequently been submitted to HM Treasury and is currently undergoing the Treasury Approval Point process, including consideration by HM Treasury and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Final government approval is expected following completion of this process in April 2026.

The Programme continues to operate within agreed funding and remains subject to the Government’s established assurance and approvals framework.

The cost to the taxpayers of Great Britain for Airwave is as follows:

2021/22 £293.66m

2022/23 £318.55m

2023/24 £197.01m

2024/25 £153.48m

As the financial accounts for 2025/26 have not been finalised or audited yet, we cannot provide expenditure for that period.

The costing information relates to England, Scotland and Wales Police Core only, as Home Office does not have visibility of Airwave costs borne directly by other Funding Sponsor Bodies.

As the Emergency Services Network is currently not operational, it is not possible to provide these costs.

Leveraging EE’s Commercial Network of circa 20,000 masts, the main build of ESN masts to provide mobile coverage across Great Britain is largely complete. Of the additional 1047 ESN masts due to be built, 987 are completed and
operationally live. Specifically, an additional 13 new sites have been built in Shropshire, with 1 of these sited in the constituency of North Shropshire.

Across Great Britain, this is already providing a benefit to the public by enabling over one thousand additional 999 calls every month to be made in areas where previously there was no coverage. Work continues at pace to provide network access in areas where localised coverage is needed; these include densely populated communities, as well as sports stadiums, and shopping centres.

ESMCP’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that ensures user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

The Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is responsible for managing the Emergency Services Network (ESN). ESN is a critical communications system and will replace the current Airwave service used by the emergency services in Great Britain.

ESN is currently in the delivery phase, during which ESMCP will implement systems, platforms, processes, hardware and software to be ready and assured for deployment. Current delivery timelines are from January 2025 to 2027 with phased deployment planned to begin in 2027 to emergency services users. The target date for transition to be completed is 31 December 2029 after which Airwave will be safely shut down.

ESN is a capability which is still under development and as such it is not operational. The products and services under development have been tested at several public events such as Notting Hill Carnival, Glastonbury and London New Year’s Eve Celebrations to validate progress and inform the next stages of the programme.

This is not a data set held by the Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme centrally. Such Data is owned and managed by individual forces across the three emergency services and the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales.

As in all Police force areas in Great Britain, the Home Office contract with Airwave provides for hand-portable coverage in built-up areas and vehicle coverage on all major and minor roads, including all rural areas.

Police forces can then elect to further enhance coverage in their areas if deemed necessary to meet their own specific operational needs. West Mercia Police have contracted further areas of hand-portable coverage from Airwave using this option.

Shropshire and North Shropshire are covered by West Mercia Police, together with Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Collectively, availability of the Airwave radio network across West Mercia throughout 2025 was strong.

The contractual target for Airwave network availability for all police forces is 99.74% each month. In 2025 monthly network availability across the 89 Airwave sites in West Mercia varied between 99.79% and 100%, with an overall mean average across the 12 months of 99.94%.

Each quarter a tri-party meeting is held between West Mercia Police, the Home Office, and Motorola to review the quality and availability of the Airwave network, along with any other Airwave related issues. During 2025 there were no major Airwave service issues raised by West Mercia Police.

The cost to the taxpayers of Great Britain for Airwave is as follows:

2021/22 £293.66m

2022/23 £318.55m

2023/24 £197.01m

2024/25 £153.48m

As the financial accounts for 2025/26 have not been finalised or audited yet, we cannot provide expenditure for that period.

The costing information relates to England, Scotland and Wales Police Core only, as Home Office does not have visibility of Airwave costs borne directly by other Funding Sponsor Bodies.

As the Emergency Services Network is currently not operational, it is not possible to provide these costs.

Leveraging EE’s Commercial Network of circa 20,000 masts, the main build of ESN masts to provide mobile coverage across Great Britain is largely complete. Of the additional 1047 ESN masts due to be built, 987 are completed and
operationally live. Specifically, an additional 13 new sites have been built in Shropshire, with 1 of these sited in the constituency of North Shropshire.

Across Great Britain, this is already providing a benefit to the public by enabling over one thousand additional 999 calls every month to be made in areas where previously there was no coverage. Work continues at pace to provide network access in areas where localised coverage is needed; these include densely populated communities, as well as sports stadiums, and shopping centres.

ESMCP’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that ensures user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

The Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is responsible for managing the Emergency Services Network (ESN). ESN is a critical communications system and will replace the current Airwave service used by the emergency services in Great Britain.

ESN is currently in the delivery phase, during which ESMCP will implement systems, platforms, processes, hardware and software to be ready and assured for deployment. Current delivery timelines are from January 2025 to 2027 with phased deployment planned to begin in 2027 to emergency services users. The target date for transition to be completed is 31 December 2029 after which Airwave will be safely shut down.

ESN is a capability which is still under development and as such it is not operational. The products and services under development have been tested at several public events such as Notting Hill Carnival, Glastonbury and London New Year’s Eve Celebrations to validate progress and inform the next stages of the programme.

This is not a data set held by the Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme centrally. Such Data is owned and managed by individual forces across the three emergency services and the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales.

As in all Police force areas in Great Britain, the Home Office contract with Airwave provides for hand-portable coverage in built-up areas and vehicle coverage on all major and minor roads, including all rural areas.

Police forces can then elect to further enhance coverage in their areas if deemed necessary to meet their own specific operational needs. West Mercia Police have contracted further areas of hand-portable coverage from Airwave using this option.

Shropshire and North Shropshire are covered by West Mercia Police, together with Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Collectively, availability of the Airwave radio network across West Mercia throughout 2025 was strong.

The contractual target for Airwave network availability for all police forces is 99.74% each month. In 2025 monthly network availability across the 89 Airwave sites in West Mercia varied between 99.79% and 100%, with an overall mean average across the 12 months of 99.94%.

Each quarter a tri-party meeting is held between West Mercia Police, the Home Office, and Motorola to review the quality and availability of the Airwave network, along with any other Airwave related issues. During 2025 there were no major Airwave service issues raised by West Mercia Police.

The cost to the taxpayers of Great Britain for Airwave is as follows:

2021/22 £293.66m

2022/23 £318.55m

2023/24 £197.01m

2024/25 £153.48m

As the financial accounts for 2025/26 have not been finalised or audited yet, we cannot provide expenditure for that period.

The costing information relates to England, Scotland and Wales Police Core only, as Home Office does not have visibility of Airwave costs borne directly by other Funding Sponsor Bodies.

As the Emergency Services Network is currently not operational, it is not possible to provide these costs.

Leveraging EE’s Commercial Network of circa 20,000 masts, the main build of ESN masts to provide mobile coverage across Great Britain is largely complete. Of the additional 1047 ESN masts due to be built, 987 are completed and
operationally live. Specifically, an additional 13 new sites have been built in Shropshire, with 1 of these sited in the constituency of North Shropshire.

Across Great Britain, this is already providing a benefit to the public by enabling over one thousand additional 999 calls every month to be made in areas where previously there was no coverage. Work continues at pace to provide network access in areas where localised coverage is needed; these include densely populated communities, as well as sports stadiums, and shopping centres.

ESMCP’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that ensures user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

The Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is responsible for managing the Emergency Services Network (ESN). ESN is a critical communications system and will replace the current Airwave service used by the emergency services in Great Britain.

ESN is currently in the delivery phase, during which ESMCP will implement systems, platforms, processes, hardware and software to be ready and assured for deployment. Current delivery timelines are from January 2025 to 2027 with phased deployment planned to begin in 2027 to emergency services users. The target date for transition to be completed is 31 December 2029 after which Airwave will be safely shut down.

ESN is a capability which is still under development and as such it is not operational. The products and services under development have been tested at several public events such as Notting Hill Carnival, Glastonbury and London New Year’s Eve Celebrations to validate progress and inform the next stages of the programme.

This is not a data set held by the Home Office’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme centrally. Such Data is owned and managed by individual forces across the three emergency services and the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales.

As in all Police force areas in Great Britain, the Home Office contract with Airwave provides for hand-portable coverage in built-up areas and vehicle coverage on all major and minor roads, including all rural areas.

Police forces can then elect to further enhance coverage in their areas if deemed necessary to meet their own specific operational needs. West Mercia Police have contracted further areas of hand-portable coverage from Airwave using this option.

Shropshire and North Shropshire are covered by West Mercia Police, together with Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Collectively, availability of the Airwave radio network across West Mercia throughout 2025 was strong.

The contractual target for Airwave network availability for all police forces is 99.74% each month. In 2025 monthly network availability across the 89 Airwave sites in West Mercia varied between 99.79% and 100%, with an overall mean average across the 12 months of 99.94%.

Each quarter a tri-party meeting is held between West Mercia Police, the Home Office, and Motorola to review the quality and availability of the Airwave network, along with any other Airwave related issues. During 2025 there were no major Airwave service issues raised by West Mercia Police.

The programme’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that have user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) has successfully concluded two major re-procurements. In November 2024, the Mobile Services contract was awarded to BT/EE, followed by the award of the User Services contract to IBM in December 2024. With these committed delivery partners firmly on board, ESMCP has made excellent progress into full delivery mode.

The programme has finalised a revised Programme Business Case, which has been endorsed by the Senior Users of the three Emergency Services and representatives from the devolved nations. The Business Case is expected to complete departmental and HM Treasury approvals in early 2026. Our user community remains actively engaged in planning the deployment and rollout of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and ensuring a safe transition from Airwave. Early adoption of a service-ready solution is on track for early 2028, with full transition from Airwave targeted for completion by the end of 2029.

Following the completion of two major re-procurements, the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) awarded the Mobile Services contract to BT/EE and the User Services contract to IBM in November and December 2024 respectively.

The programme has completed a revised Programme Business Case which has been endorsed by the Senior Users of the 3 Emergency Services and those of the devolved nations. The Programme Business Case is expected to complete departmental and treasury approvals in early 2026. Our user community continues to be closely engaged in planning the deployment and rollout of the service and the safe transition from Airwave to ESN. Early adoption of a service ready solution is on track for early 2028 with a further target for complete transition from Airwave by the end of 2029.

The main build of ESN masts to provide mobile coverage is largely complete - of a total of the extra 1047 masts due to be built, 987 are completed and operationally live. This is already providing a benefit to the public by enabling over one thousand additional 999 calls every month to be made in areas where previously there was no coverage. Work continues at pace to provide network access in areas where localised coverage is needed; these include densely populated communities, as well as sports stadiums, and shopping centres.

The programme’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that ensures user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

In July 2021 the Emergency Services Network (ESN) Full Business case was approved by HM Treasury with a whole life cost of £11.3bn through to 2036/37.

In October 2024, HM Treasury approved an updated version of the business case which reflected a change in planning assumptions and timescales through to 2043/44 with a revised whole life cost of £19.2bn.

For the period 2015/16 to 31 March 2024, ESN has spent £5.5bn.

The estimated future cost to be spent by 2043/44 is £9.5bn (real), or £13.7bn (current).

In December 2024, the Home Office procured a new supplier for mobile radio and data services and intends to release a revised Full Business Case in Autumn 2025, which will set out a new timetable and costs, taking into account the impact of the recent procurement activity and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Charge Control.

The Home Office’s priority is to deliver ESN as swiftly as possible and Airwave will be shut down only when it is safe to do so.

The Programme is under regular review by the IPA, NAO and engages regularly with PAC and HASC.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communication Programme (ESMCP) managed by the Home Office uses BT EE as a mobile service provider for the deployment of associated infrastructure and provision of the Emergency Services Network (ESN).

There are regular formal, governed engagements and meetings to discuss progress with BT EE on coverage issues, and the Programme remains on track to deliver effective coverage for all emergency services across the whole of the UK.

We can confirm that four EAS masts have already been activated for the Shared Rural Network (SRN) and are delivering new 4G mobile coverage from all four mobile network operators across Ceredigion Preseli.

We continue to work with Building Digital UK (BDUK) and the operators to activate the remaining five masts for the SRN. BDUK officials have informed me that the Hon. Member has signed up for the next BDUK MP drop-in session and they would be happy to update him further on SRN EAS progress in Ceredigion Preseli then.

The £19.2bn cost for the Emergency Services Network (ESN) covers the period 2015/16 to 2043/44, and is broken down as follows:

Programme Delivery spend is £3.2bn, this includes the cost of developing the ESN network, the Mission Critical Communications (MCX) solution, and includes infrastructure costs.

Ongoing run costs for ESN are calculated at £9.9bn. This includes service charges for both the Mobile Services and User Services contracts.

The continued operation of the Airwave network during the delivery phase of the Programme, and up until completion of transition to ESN is £6.1bn. These legacy costs are expected to last until the final transition date of December 2029, when these legacy systems are expected to be fully replaced by ESN.

These costs, when compared to the estimated cost of running Airwave for the entire period of evaluation, are considerably lower.

Of the £19.2bn, £5.5bn has been spent up to 31 March 2024, with the remaining £13.7bn to be spent by 2043/44.

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in delivering the Emergency Service Network programme.

I am grateful to the noble Lord, who will be aware that I can be responsible only for activity post 4 July 2024. There was significant time and money overspend under the previous Government. However, he is right that the service will provide for 300,000 users across Britain, 107 emergency services, 44 police forces, 50 fire and rescue services and 13 ambulance trusts, as well as 300 other organisations that use Airwave for this important purpose. I hear what he says, but we have set a course of action and a direction of travel. He will no doubt monitor that, and I want to ensure that the switchover from Airwave to the new emergency service network happens as quickly as possible. As he knows, it will take some time to bed in following the ending of the previous contract and the beginning of this contract. I hope that the House will bear with me on that delivery in due course.

My Lords, in December 2024, the Home Office awarded the user service contract for the emergency service network to IBM and its partners. The programme’s attention is now on producing a plan with our partners, focusing on mobilisation and delivery of key capabilities to deliver the emergency service network. Programme delivery dates with milestones will be available in the spring.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer, and I declare my interests as in the register. Members may not know this, but this is essentially about moving the police emergency services, the fire brigade and the ambulance service from a radio network to a mobile phone network. That should have been delivered in 2017, but here we are in 2025 and we do not yet have an implementation date. The

initial cost of £2 billion is now in excess of £12 billion. I wonder whether the time has come for a radical new approach. Instead of pursuing the present idea, which was a good one, of having the data and radio system on a mobile phone network, we could pursue those two avenues separately, so that we make progress and do not waste more money on a programme that has struggled to make any progress.