UK's Police National Database gets red risk rating

"The Police National Database (PND) shares information across all police forces, non-police law enforcement agencies, and regulatory bodies. The crucial database is meant to shift to the cloud, but procurement for this move has been delayed at by more than a year. Last month, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), the HM Treasury unit that advises government on major projects, said the move from the amber assessment last year to red in 2025 was down to the Home Office, which runs the project, getting a impact assessment which revealed a five-month hold up in delivery."

""Since then, the Home Office has collaborated closely with the supplier [CGI IT UK Limited] to undertake a comprehensive review of the end-to-end delivery plan. This included significantly increasing commercial support and initiating a full programme reset," the report said. In May this year, the Home Office's Investment Committee declined the proposed "Contract Change Notification" and instead chose to pursue a contingency option."

"The PND was proposed after so-called Soham murders in 2002 - the subject of a national outcry in the UK - where two 10-year-old girls were murdered. The subsequent Bichard Inquiry identified a number of critical points of failure in police intelligence, inability of police forces to access potentially important information in systems outside of a specific geographic jurisdiction, leading to systemic failings in sharing information about Ian Huntley, who murdered them."

The Police National Database (PND) aggregates and shares intelligence across UK police forces, non-police law enforcement agencies, and regulatory bodies and was slated for a cloud migration. Procurement for the move has been delayed by more than a year, prompting NISTA to raise the project risk rating from amber to Red after an impact assessment revealed a five-month delivery hold-up. The Home Office and supplier CGI have launched a comprehensive review, increased commercial support, and initiated a programme reset. The Home Office's Investment Committee rejected a contract change and opted for a contingency path, with a further NISTA-led review and Full Business Case updates due before December 2025. The PND originated after the Soham murders and the Bichard Inquiry highlighted intelligence-sharing failures.

Read at Theregister