Recommendation R2: PLX system introduction
From The Bichard Inquiry Report, published 22 June 2004.
Recommendation
The PLX system, which flags that intelligence is held about someone by particular police forces, should be introduced in England and Wales by 2005.
In brief (written by this site)
The Home Office stated in May 2006 that the recommendation was implemented (Home Office, May 2006). Previously, in December 2004, the department reported that the Police Local Cross-Check system was on track to index individuals about whom police forces held information, with an interim version scheduled for early 2005 and the full version planned to be accessible to forces by the end of that year (Home Office response, Dec 2004).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
In the interim, the Police Local Cross-Check system (PLX) is on track to provide an index of individuals about whom information is held by police forces. The first version of this (Interim or I-PLX) will be available to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) by February 2005 and will be accessible to police forces via a National Nominal Index (NNI) from March 2005. Together with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the CRB, we are working towards having all forces flagging and sharing their intelligence data using these systems by December 2005. We are also working with ACPO and the CRB to ensure regular updating of NNI/I-PLX (perhaps as frequently as monthly) and to examine the scope for interim returns in the case of any individual causing particular concern. The full, dynamically updated version of PLX will be accessible to forces by the end of 2005.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The Government accepted all 31 recommendations collectively: the Home Secretary's written statement of 11 January 2005 records that "All 31 recommendations were accepted by the Government when the Inquiry reported in June 2004". No document states an acceptance decision for any single recommendation. The response shown against each recommendation is the Home Office's answer to it in the first progress report, sent to Sir Michael Bichard on 22 December 2004 and placed in the Library of the House on 11 January 2005. The Government then reported against the recommendations three more times, in November 2005, May 2006 and May 2007; the updates shown are taken from those reports.
Delivery
Home Office says completed (25 May 2006)
Recommendation 2 implemented.
From: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Third Progress Report
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Home Office
Response, delivery statement