Police Scotland warned over future IT strategy

POLICE Scotland has been warned it must urgently set out a strategy for IT following the collapse of its i6 computer system project.

MSPs on Holyrood’s Audit Committee heard there is currently no timescale for a replacement for the programme, which had been expected to generate £200 million in savings over 10 years but was shelved in July last year.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner said this was despite the heavy emphasis on technology in the recently published 10-year Policing 2026 strategy.

SNP MSP Alex Neil asked: “When do you think Police Scotland is going to be in a position to put a plan in place to recover the situation and get into a position when they can get a computer system that does realise these savings?”

Ms Gardner said: “It’s urgent they now do so. The Policing 2026 strategy that was published just a couple of weeks ago is absolutely centred on much better, much more flexible use of IT to help police officers be out and about doing their work on behalf of all of us across Scotland, and there currently isn’t a plan for how those benefits will be achieved. There isn’t a date.”

She said there is “no question” the failure of the project had had an adverse impact on staff in terms of “opportunity cost”.

Police staff are still us- ing 130 manual or IT processes whereas the i6 system had been designed to cover 80% of policing activity.

Audit Scotland found that while police had followed good practice in planning and procurement, a loss of trust and disagreements with contractor Accenture over what it needed to deliver contributed to its failure.