NPIA chief: new police IT contracts make savings

Dr David Horne, director of resources at the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA), has told MPs that IT contracts put in place by his organisation are set to save £18m on IT consumables alone. Horne was speaking at a meeting of Parliament's home affairs committee about police procurement. He said that good progress was being made to reach a target, set in the last government spending review, for police services to save £180m on IT overall. He added: "But I realise it is going to be more challenging as time goes by." Asked by Labour committee member Alun Michael about the success of the four compulsory national frameworks for police forces, Horne said they were working out very well and feedback had been positive. Some £3m had been spent through the IT hardware and software framework, he said. On the future for IT procurement, Horne said the NPIA had taken four key decisions. The first is that is it closely aligned to ISIS, the police IT convergence programme. The second is that the IT procurement function needs to have "proper commercial nous", and commercial leadership to deliver against a very hard-edged market. Thirdly, it needs to work closely with government IT, because of the changes that will be coming forward. Fourthly, it has to work with the police service to have an appreciation of operational requirements. "If I may just add a further point, which is to say it also needs to be very close to the CEO's desk, or whoever is leading in that," he told the hearing. In response to a question from Liberal Democrat member Dr Julian Huppert about whether the NPIA will be abolished, Horne said he was waiting clarification from the home secretary. This article is published by Guardian Professional. For updates on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.