• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

This, in part, subsumes my Question 1603, which relates to the answers that you have already given. The partners that you have left out of this are the people who actually sell the alcohol, both the on-licence trade and the off-licence trade. I certainly agree with you that this is a matter, primarily for boroughs to have their own strategies. What we have done is to draw up a code of conduct with the pubs and the pub chains to ensure that there is not aggressive discounting. There is too much of the old 'Gin Alley' policy ' you know...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

The other question as you say, there is a real difference between quiet streets with the occasional pub and some of these mega-pubs in town centres, and in addition, places like Romford in Roger Evans's constituency or other parts in outer London, where there is not just one, but several of these super-pubs or nightclubs or drinking establishments. Do you think that the planning and regulatory regime is sufficient yet to, for example, look at questions of whether we should restrict the number of those premises, where we should require people who manage those premises to pay towards policing in...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

I think this is an area where Londoners would really like to see progress and partnership between GLA, boroughs, the MPS, and so on, and I am sure that every Member around this table has anecdotes and detailed work on problem areas in this respect. Now, I welcome what you have said so far about strategies and frameworks. I was wondering if that included work on Capital Standards and anti-social behaviour strategies. It may well be that there is a further challenge here in the relationship with GOL. Can you give us a timescale on which we might actually see...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

I will have two further brief questions, Chair. The first is about the relationship between this and the potential for 24-hour drinking in London, and I think, again, a lot of Londoners will be ' particularly those who live near these town centres, and it is a particular problem in some of the suburbs ' will be nervous about 24-hour drinking, and its implications for crime and disorder and, I guess, would want to be reassured that these frameworks and strategies are in place for when that happens.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

Do we take it from that that it is your view that White Papers actually do not reflect Government policy, because that will come as a bit of a surprise to most people who have been involved in public life for some time?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

Well, the question, of course, as you observed, was posed in terms of more police on the street, and you may be concerned that the Prime Minister's White Paper, in which you made so much, only talks about maintaining numbers. When you set that against the material made available to the Metropolitan Police Authority at the Budget Committee, which indicates that there is not enough money coming from Government to fund step change as envisaged, and that you either have to cut back the numbers or the people on the teams, how are you going to deal with that with...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

Given your answers earlier on, are you troubled at the passage in the White Paper Building Communities, Beating Crime, which was launched, in effect, on the day of the Prime Minister's visit to Welling that states that 'The Government is committed to maintaining officer numbers and increasing police overall strength through the use of community service officers.'? Have you raised with the Government the implication in that that there is unlikely to be any extra funding for sworn officers?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

Given the differences happening in these communities - I do not know when you last saw them at first hand, but I would invite you to join me in visiting one of the neighbourhood teams at work within my constituency in the new year. Is that an offer that you could take up?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

My follow-up question is I wonder if you could put an end to this myth that Conservative colleagues are frequently harping on about the alleged lack of benefits that outer London gets from its GLA precept. Thus, can you tell us to what extent is investment in neighbourhood policing skewed to inner London, and can you direct this answer to Mr (Tony) Arbour (AM)?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 17 November 2004

Okay, thank you. That is what we need to know.