Home Affairs

Remember Soham? The murder of two ten-year-old girls by their school caretaker led to public horror and resulted in an independent enquiry by Sir Michael Bichard.

His first recommendation was the creation of “a national IT system for England and Wales to support police intelligence”. That system is now referred to as the Police National Database (PND).

The murderer had previously been the subject of allegations of sexual and other crimes – but, because he had not been convicted, nobody outside the original investigating police force was aware that he might pose a threat.

We lead the consortium that is building the PND as part of a seven-year, £75.6 million contract. The project will, for the first time, enable police across the UK, along with other organisations that support public protection, to share, search and access existing intelligence and operational information that is currently siloed in local forces.

The initial phase starts to roll out in 2010 and brings together copies of operational data covering custody, crime, intelligence, child abuse and domestic abuse.

As well as information-sharing, correct attribution of data and the verification of the identity of individuals lie at the heart of the PND. The same principles apply to the IT support we’re providing to the Independent Safeguarding Authority and Criminal Records Bureau, who have commissioned a system – also a Bichard enquiry recommendation – that will be used in vetting individuals who work with children and vulnerable adults.

In both instances, the expertise in systems integration, data and systems security that we’ve built up over more than 40 years is key.