Information about CONNECT

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031625

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. What was the development cost of Connect?
2. How much did training all Connect users cost?
3. Is is true there is a specific overtime code associated with use of the Connect system?
4. If true, what is the current cost of time associated with the Connect overtime code in GBP?
5. All figures related to system uptime / reliability of Connect.
6. An estimate, if one is held, on amount of Police Officer hours lost due to Connect crashes.
7. Aggregated feedback from users on the performance of the Connect system.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 22(1) – Information intended for future publication

Reason for decision

Questions 1, 2 and 5 are exempt from disclosure pursuant to the provisions of Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('the Act').

Disclosure

I have decided to disclose some of the requested information. Please find below information relating to Questions 3, 4, 6 and 7.

Q3 - Is true there is a specific overtime code associated with use of the Connect system?
Q4 - If true, what is the current cost of time associated with the Connect overtime code in GBP?

There are 2 key overtime codes that have been created since CONNECT went live in November 2022:

1. Serv351 – This was a service code with a total allocation of £91,000 which was broken down to £7,000 for each of the 12 BCU’s and additionally £7,000 for Met Prosecutions. This was created to provide short term assistance for those units to provide additional overnight staffing in December 2022 when there were issues, from both a technical and adoption perspective, that were preventing the correct submission of case files to court for overnight remand prisoners. Against the £91,000 allocated, £28,689 was claimed in that 2 week window.

2. Op20 – An operation code created to assist OCU’s track any overtime that was incurred, and was locally assessed as attributable to CONNECT. There is no additional funding currently in place for this overtime code and is primarily designed to assist in budgetary planning and recording. This code was created in May 2023 and by July 2023 the cost attributed to Op20 across the MPS was £159,185. Currently, any overtime attributed to this code is subsumed within local budgets but assists local commands understanding why overtime may have been claimed.

There may have been other local arrangement or local codes created by individual OCU’s to assist in their own financial planning prior to Op20 code but these were not funded by, nor tracked by the central CONNECT or finance teams.

In addition to these codes there was one further central code that was created to cover any costs associated with abstractions for CONNECT training – Serv 340. This was created before CONNECT went live and between 11 June 2022 and 20 January 2023 resulted in claims totalling £962,965. N.B There is an additional £99,803 which has been attributed to that overtime code since January 2023 but this is believed to be miscoded.

Q6 - An estimate, if one is held, on amount of Police Officer hours lost due to Connect crashes.
Q7 - Aggregated feedback from users on the performance of the Connect system.

This information is not held.