Thames Valley Police spent £14.4m on IT software it will not use

The three forces spent a total of £36.6m on the Equip project between 2016 and 2020

A police force spent £14.4m on a project to develop software it will not use.

Thames Valley Police spent the money between 2016 and late 2020 in a plan with Sussex and Surrey Police.

Equip - which cost a total of £36.6m - was set up with the hope of improving their back office systems.

Sussex Police and Surrey Police have bought the software and could still make use of it but Thames Valley Police has pulled out of the partnership.

Last September, Thames Valley's former police and crime commissioner (PCC) Anthony Stansfeld said he was "totally dissatisfied" with Equip's progress.

He stood down ahead of May's election and was replaced by fellow Conservative and his former deputy Matthew Barber.

Thames Valley's former PCC Anthony Stansfeld said he was "totally dissatisfied" by Equip's progress last year

In a joint statement, the three forces said they had initially hoped Equip would improve efficiency in areas including HR, finance and learning and development once it was finished.

Sussex Police spent £12.7m and Surrey Police spent £9.5m on the project.

Their chief constables and PCCs are "considering a range of options" to see if it could be used or developed further after relevant software, licensed assets and documentation were bought from accountancy firm KPMG, the statement said.

It added Thames Valley Police's Chief Constable John Campbell and PCC Mr Barber are looking at the development or use of another enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.