Agenda Item: 5a Dyfed Powys Police Authority Finance and General Purposes Committee 17th June 2009 REPORT

OF THE CHIEF CONSTABLE

Airwave Telephony
1. Purpose of Report
To provide the Police Authority information regarding the expected mobile phone charge savings following the introduction of Airwave Recommendations To note the content of the report.

2. Detailed Report
With the introduction of Airwave into service in 2005 the Airwave project team undertook some work to achieve a reduction in mobile phones utilised by the Force, which formed part of the Airwave business case. At the onset of this work in late 2005, the force were paying 8 per month line rental for each phone which included 30 minutes of free calls for each phone. The project team consulted with each Divisional Commander and Head of Department to identify phones suitable for withdrawal with a target of 95% reduction set by the then DCC Mr Taylor. After numerous iterations of the process it became apparent by early 2006 that no common criteria for allocation of mobile phones to individuals across the Force was achievable and that the original target of 95% would also be unachievable. The main reasons behind the failure to reach this target were as follows; decision made not to allow incoming telephony to Airwave handsets, security requirements around the use and storage of airwave handsets, especially at home, the suitability of the Airwave handset for plain clothes operation, specifically for CMRD officers, the use of mobile phone to supplement Airwave coverage and provide a fallback for Airwave failures, and the need for mobile phone to support the Oystercatcher exercise in October 2006.

The contract with Orange for mobile phones was due for renewal in July 2006 and during negotiations with Orange a new tariff was proposed, as part of the West Yorkshire Police (WYP) framework, which would see the monthly line rental reduced from 8 per month to 2 per month on a 2 year contract or 1.50 per month on a 3 year contract however no free call allowance was 1

included. To further reduce call costs Orange agreed to provide, at no cost to the Force, a dedicated link to carry calls from force desk phones to Orange mobiles free of charge and in addition all calls between Force Orange mobile would also be free. The project team were made aware of these developments an email exchange regarding this issue is included at Appendix A. An analysis of the potential savings from this new contract was made at the time and is included at Appendix B. As a result of the new charges and the difficulty encountered in achieving the necessary reduction target the Force entered into the new contract with Orange with minimal reductions in the number of mobile phones in July 2006 which saw an instant reduction of around 5,000 per month in costs. Under the new contract the Force was eligible to receive electronic billing from Orange. As a result IS&T developed an application on the intranet which made it easier for mobile phone users and supervisors to monitor calls made from Force mobiles and the Force now receives an income of approximately 13,000 per annum from staff for personal calls made from Force mobiles, an increase of about 38%. This application has also had a positive effect on call traffic and we have seen an approximate 10% reduction in calls made from mobiles which has further reduced costs. In view of the savings made by moving to a new contract and improved cost recovery it was decided that the effort in pursuing further savings in this area would not justify the potential savings that could be made.

3. Appendices
Appendix A From: Pickard Adrian Chief Supt Sent: 19 May 2006 11:34 To: Evans Gary Supt Cc: Edwards Andy, Assistant Chief Constable; Bevan Andrew; Williams Aled (IS&T Services Manager) Subject: FW: Mobile Phones Importance: High Gary In my view this changes the position we are in somewhat in that we are now able to achieve significant reductions in our mobile phone costs through moving to a new contract. Originally you will recall the plan was to reduce phones by 95% (or a monthly reduction of costs from circa 15K to 750). As we have found the 95% target is probably too ambitious given the numerous posts that commanders were able to identify that should retain mobiles, SOME of which are very hard to argue against. On that basis I suspect that 50% - 60% might be a more realistic target; a reduction of around 7.5K per month to 7.5K on existing costs/contract basis. In addition, there are two other factors which MAY make a hasty decision to remove the original target numbers of mobiles quite risky: The AGLOW exercise due in October (in respect of which there will be a significant increase in volume in comms traffic) Airwave outages which MMO2 have still not been able to rectify.

The figures quoted by Aled in his spread sheet for a 2 year contract (possibly the least binding legacy for any amalgamated force) give a reduction of approx 5K per month. This represents two thirds of the savings we could hope to achieve from a revised, and probably more realistic, 50% reduction target. Savings of the remaining 2,500 could hopefully now be much easier to achieve through the surrendering of the phones which actually pose little difficulty (decision wise) in choosing to relinquish across both HQ Depts and Divisions. What this will in effect allow, provided the revised target figure is accepted by chief officers, is the retention of those phones where commanders, and indeed you and I in an attempt to moderate on behalf of the Force, have had difficulty in reaching the retain/not retain decision. On that basis I feel it would be useful if we met ASAP and very quickly reviewed the Ops/CMRD lists and attempted to formulate some form of guidance for the ACC as to which phones divisions should surrender, based on their submissions (obviously it is still desirable that a degree of commonality is achieved). Equally, the ACC, in discussions with COG colleagues may decide that in light of 1 and 2 above there may not be a strong desire to even attempt to achieve the extra 2.5K. One thing I will ask Alked to check is whether the costs of calls take into account the income the Force should receive in respect of staff payments for personal calls. Clearly the quicker this can be resolved the quicker IS&T can move to signing a new contract; the longer this is delayed, the more it costs the Force. I would however have serious reservations at attempting to achieve the original target reduction in light of 1 and 2. You will see that I have copied this to both Mr Edwards and Mr Bevan who may wish to comment on the current position prior to us meeting and making any suggestions to COG, hopefully further expediting the process. Adrian Pickard Chief Superintendent - Head of Operations Prif Uwcharolygydd - Penaeth Adran Weithredol Heddlu Dyfed Powys Police Tel: 01267-226350 (Direct) Ext (HQ): 6350 Airwave ISSI: (310) 2077 _____________________________________________ From: Williams Aled (IS&T Services Manager) Sent: 18 May 2006 17:19 To: Pickard Adrian Chief Supt Cc: Evans Gary Supt; Hoskison Ian Subject: Mobile Phones Adrian As per yesterdays discussion please find attached spreadsheet outlining the potential saving that are achievable by moving to the WYP contract while retaining the current number of handsets.

As you can see there is monthly saving of around 4,900 (35%) on a two year deal or 5,800 (41%) on a three year deal which would see our monthly costs reduce from around 14,000 to 9,000 (2yr deal) or 8,200 (3yr deal). As we discussed this would allow the Force to have some resilience in the event of Airwave failure, especially during the AGLOW exercise in October and not have a detrimental impact on staff morale in losing the use of their mobile phone, however any reduction in handsets that could be made would further reduce the monthly costs but will need to be agreed before signing over to the new contract.

<< File: Orange savings.xls >>

If you need any further information please feel free to contact Ian or myself.

Aled
Aled Williams IT Services Manager Dyfed-Powys Police Police Headquarters Llangunnor Road Carmarthen SA31 2PF Tel: 01267 226408 Fax: 01267 226413 Mob: 07970 146781

Appendix B
Phones in use Total minutes used Total net spend Existing costs Line rental Call charges Other Total WYP 3 year deal Line rental Call charges Other Total Savings WYP 2 year deal Line rental Call charges Other Total Savings Jan-06 642 120,121 14,523.53 Feb-06 646 116,179 14,220.95 Mar-06 643 106,053 13,791.46

5,160.96 9,182.65 179.63 14,523.24

5,143.03 9,058.64 19.00 14,220.67

5,150.47 8,643.68 -3.00 13,791.15

963.00 7,347.85 179.63 8,490.48 41.54%

969.00 7,307.14 19.00 8,295.14 41.67%

964.50 7,038.62 -3.00 8,000.12 41.99%

1,926.00 7,347.85 179.63 9,453.48 34.91%

1,938.00 7,307.14 19.00 9,264.14 34.85%

1,929.00 7,038.62 -3.00 8,964.62 35.00%

4. Contact details
Author: Email: Telephone: Aled Williams aled.williams@dyfed-powys.pnn.police.uk 01267 226408