Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) Project: Child Abuse Image Database

This paper seeks approval for the capital investment of £864,000 over two financial years for the improvement of connectivity to the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID). The improved connectivity will allow teams to view referrals on the CAID database from external agencies; directly view and corroborate intelligence; and upload intelligence gathered to be shared across all UK forces. There will be a further revenue cost of £215,000 over five years for service and maintenance. The capital costs will be met from existing capital programme provision (£740,000) and a contribuition from the Home Office (£124,000). The revenue costs will be from within existing Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) budgets.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve £864,000 capital over two financial years to deliver a High Speed connection between MPS and the CAID data centre with internal connectivity and hardware, of which:

• £500,000 is within the current capital programme

• £240,000 is additional and will be contained and managed within the overall existing Transformation Directorate capital programme.

• £124,000: from the Home Office as a direct procurement to the supplier for a High Speed Line

2. Approval to commit £215,000 revenue for maintenance costs over five financial years (£43,000 per annum), of which:

• £43,000 (2021/22) from Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) project revenue; and

• £172,000 (2022/23 to 2025/26) from Digital Policing revenue

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The MPS report that the current connectivity between MPS sites and the national Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) is not fit for purpose and is approaching the end of its operational life.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The proposed investment will contribute to the MOPAC Police and Crime Plan 2017-21 as “Connectivity to CAID will ensure improvements to policing London by protecting the most vulnerable and tackling some of the most harmful crimes including child sexual exploitation and rape.”

2.2. The current arrangements are sub-optimal and are resulting in a growing backlog of referrals.

2.3. This proposal will address both the poor connectivity for the existing teams at Empress State Building and Lambeth, and provide full access to CAID for locally based Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) teams.

2.4. The implementation of the local (OCSAE) teams has improved the quality of Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) investigations and the ability to process national referrals in line with recommendations made by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). This proposed investment will remove the current manual workarounds and improve efficiency.

2.5. The investment will also future proof the system in respect of a proposed national change in the process to allocate work through CAID.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The capital investment required is estimated at £864,000 over two financial years. The capital costs will be funded from within the existing approved MPS capital programme (£740,000) and from a contribution from the Home Office (£124,000).



3.2. The revenue costs in 2021/22 of £43,000 relate to the project implementation costs and will be funded form the existing budget set aaside for this. The on-going annual service and maintenance costs of £43,000 will be met from the existing Digictal Policing revenue budget.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (“2011 Act”) MOPAC may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office which includes entering into contracts and other agreements (whether legally binding or not).

4.2. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The procurement by the Home Office of the high speed link is via the Public Services Network in Policing Agreement (PSNP) which the MPS confirm as a compliant route to market.

5.2. The procurement of the remaining hardware, installation and extending the connectivity will be through the existing compliant commercial agreements under the Service Integration and Application Management (SIAM) Tower Agreement.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.

6.2. The MPS report that “Access and the use of CAID is already in existence within the MPS and widely use within the CSC OCSAE team and Forensics Services in accordance with existing MPS investigative policy and procedures and existing agreements with third parties or external partners. The IIOC Project will therefore not deliver any new or novel technology but to widen CAID accessibility to Frontline Policing. The IIOC Project will not receive, process or store any personal data which relates to CAID in terms of personal details of individuals, special categories of personal data. All personal data will be received and processed within accordance of existing MPS investigative policy and procedures or within existing agreements with third parties or external partners, which is not part of the project but Business as Usual”

7. Equality Comments

7.1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

7.2. The MPS has confirmed that the delivery of the system will not impact on equalities and diversity.

8. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) Project: Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) Business Justification