The NAO report highlighted a number of changes to police recruitment that the Programme has facilitated. These include a more standardised approach to recruitment 25 Committee of Public Accounts, The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Twenty-Ninth Report of Session 2021–22, 8 December 2021 26 C&AG’s report, paras 7, 15 27 Q 18 28 Q 18; C&AG’s report para 2.8 29 Q 70 The Police Uplift Programme 13 applications and assessment, greater engagement between the Department, national and local policing, and increasing commonality in workforce data.30 Introducing these changes has brought about improvements to the way police recruitment works in England and Wales. For example, the more standardised approach to applications enables the Department and national policing bodies to draw upon more consistent data about the volume and characteristics of applications nationally; The Department also told us that the use of a standardised online assessment process had helped the Department to “ensure the professionalisation of assessors, consistency of assessors and consistency of the process”. Further, the availability of more consistent data allows the Department and national policing bodies to identify and address issues in police recruitment and workforce planning at a national level.31