A performance monitoring system being developed by French IT services provider Steria for the police in Scotland has been scrapped, in light of plans to merge Scotland’s 10 police forces into one next year.

The system, designed to integrate performance data from all of Scotland’s various police forces, was first proposed in 2007 and was due for completion in 2010. It was hoped that the system would deliver £30 million of efficiency savings.

Last week, ACPOS announced that an ICT review had found that the system was no longer fit for purpose. "Reform has now changed the business need for this project," it said. "From a project looking to compare the performance of the many, we are becoming one united service."

"Following the ICT review, we have decided to manage the platform project to an early end," it said. "ACPOS will save £2 million of further payments due on the project."

A report by the Scotsman in May said that the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) had by then spent £6.7 million, and it was two years behind schedule.

The plan to merge the police forces was first discussed in January last year, and was approved by the Scottish government in June 2012. The merger is due for completion in April 2013.

According to the Herald newspaper, there may not be an investigation into the project as ACPOS is not accountable to the Scottish government auditor. Most of the funding for the system came from Scotland’s Efficient Government Fund.

ACPOS said its £2.6 million contract with Steria to deliver Command and Control systems is still going ahead.

"To support the reform programme and the budgetary challenges facing Scottish policing, and in recognition of the important partnership that Steria and ACPOS have formed in modernising police systems, Steria has also committed to providing savings in Command and Control systems that will benefit Scottish policing by at least £2 million over the next five years," it said.