• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

My concern in this is that I have got evidence from a large number of constituents, because a lot of these stations are within my Assembly constituency, that they see no change in police patrols whatsoever. In fact, they never see police after dark around these stations at all. There is no assurance to those people. What assurance can you give to Londoners who are using London transport, as you wish, and are going about their lives in a risky environment?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Moving onto the CCTV, what is your view on how long the record should be kept of the CCTV images that are captured?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Do you think that there is a case as well for extending and expanding the number of BTP beyond those that you have put in the budget at the moment?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

The question centred not necessarily around money spent within stations, but specifically on police patrols around and about stations that are unstaffed after dark. Have there been any measures to improve police patrols in those areas?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

The Commissioner was being challenged by a Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) member as to the proportionality or disproportionality of investigations of particular cases. Would you agree with me that it was rather insensitive of the Commissioner to choose this particular tragic case to emphasise his point on media reporting?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I was really going to follow up a point of my colleague, Elizabeth Howlett [AM]. We can have a philosophical discussion of the sort you entered into with Damian there ' but the real issue is how appropriate is it for the Metropolitan Police chief to use something like the tragedy of murdered children to make a political point? I agree with you he apologised, but how appropriate was it?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

The Commissioner seems to accept that, to have made a point, which he no doubt genuinely felt, he used inappropriate and unwise language and, in consequence, he apologised. Is that a precedent that you also might find useful to adopt?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Ken, would you agree with me on a couple of things? That it is really quite strange that at least two people who have addressed this question were at the meeting where this statement was made, and said nothing at the time and did not get involved in the debate then, and it is only now that they feel able to be raising this issue and asking this question of you? I find that really quite strange. The other aspect of this is: would you not agree with me that Damian (Hockney, AM) needs a point of correction identified to...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

One final question: this is not the first time the Metropolitan Police chief ' this particular one ' has had to apologise after he has opened his mouth and only engaged his brain later. How many more times is he actually going to have to apologise for unfortunate statements before somebody suggests that he might want to keep his mouth shut most of the time?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

What we had after the war, Mayor, was a situation where newspapers dared not print, for example, that Churchill was senile when he was still prime minister, where they dared not report something within a fortnight that was going to be in the Parliament, because that was too important. We do not really, seriously, want the situation to return to that of the 1940s, when journalists had to say `sir, sir' to everybody, do we?