PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an independent review of IT problems which left Greater Manchester's police officers using pen and paper rather than computers.

On Tuesday last week the force declared a 'critical incident' after a failed upgrade to tackle long-standing glitches left officers unable to log information into the system. The problems were fixed the following day.

This afternoon Bolton-West MP Chris Green raised the issue with Mr Johnson at Prime Ministers's Question in the House of Commons.

He said: " In Greater Manchester, frontline police officers are increasingly having to resort to using a pen and paper because of the failing iOPS computer system. This is putting the police at risk and undermining their ability to protect residents and vulnerable children. Will you intervene to solve this problem?"

Mr Johnson replied: "You are, I am afraid, entirely right. We know that there are concerns about this system, and that is why I have asked the minister for policing Kit Malthouse to ask Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for an independent review of the operation of the system."