Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for the Emergency Services Mobile Communication programme; and what steps she is taking to ensure that commercial operators offer a service at least equivalent to the existing service.

Karen Bradley

The current Airwave Solutions Ltd contracts were let under a 20 year Private Finance Initiative arrangement, with a series of 15 year contracts, which expire over the period from September 2016 to December 2020.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme aims to introduce a replacement for Airwave, as current contracts expire from September 2016. The requirements have been developed in partnership with the emergency services and we are running an open and fair competition in accordance with government guidelines.

The aim is to provide a replacement solution which is at least equivalent to the existing service, but not necessarily delivered in the same way.