• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I think that has probably covered the Tube situation to a fair amount of detail, but as public transport includes buses, could you just tell us if you are satisfied with the safety and security for the passengers using London Buses?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Still on the Tube and security, on 18 April the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) did actually threaten to ballot members on the proposed introduction of special identity (ID) cards, the aim of which was to protect against unauthorised entry into the Underground system, which is surely a higher priority. Why have London Underground failed to convince the staff of the benefits of this system?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Have you looked at the scheme that has been installed in the Washington Metro where special detectors of chemicals are permanently installed and they can detect particles of chemicals which might be used in a chemical or biological attack? The advantage of that surely is that it does not discriminate but actually detects any such substance, not just through a random system.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I would like to think that people will walk through the scanners, but what happens if they do not, because it is supposed to be a voluntary scheme? What are officers being instructed to do?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

You need to put yourself in the shoes of people who feel they are being picked on, do you not? The evidence from stop and search is that black people are 6.4 times more likely to be stopped and Asian people twice as likely as white people to be stopped. Are we going to see a similar pattern on these `stop and scan' facilities at Tubes?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Will you investigate why they have not been able to introduce even an agreed plan for ID cards?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Weeks away. Thank you. Turning to the Tube, since yesterday at least two Tube stations police have been stopping people, allegedly at random to submit them to examination by body scanners. In view of the evidence of racial discrimination on a stop and search, what safeguards will you put in to avoid any possibilities of exacerbation of racial tension?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

You have not told me yet when these 89 police officers will actually be deployed.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Okay, so there are going to be more BTP, and I thank you for responding to the Liberal Democrat proposals for 272 extra such police last January, but your response was for 89, which we do not believe is enough. Can you tell us what is actually going to happen in terms of their deployment? Do we know where and when?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I have been working with two of my local secondary schools in Enfield and the problem that they have is that many of their schoolchildren are victims of muggings, especially on the top of double-decker buses that serve those schools. One of the problems appears to be that children do not know, for example, that the driver has a form that he can hand out and they can report that and it can be taken up. Should there be plans that TfL perhaps goes and talks to schools and tells children about the risk and also what they should do...