• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

We talk about 250 officers, 240 officers from the boroughs, and backfilling with new recruits to cover the officers on the traffic issues. We've also talked on the MPA of some 400 officers to backfill for the special operations. And we've talked of, only last Friday, of experienced traffic officers being pulled and backfilling again within the boroughs, which if you add those simple numbers together it comes to some 880 officers backfilled. We also know, that there's 1,000 new officers gone to boroughs over the course of this year. A simple calculation tells me that some boroughs could be...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Mr Godwin also talked about tabling a paper, a very important paper. If it's not tabled, we need it in advance, and I think it's about time that we get through to the MPS that the MPA is there for good. I think it's time Chairman, you and your Chairman got tough, and you pulled papers off agendas that were laid on the table with serious budgetary consequences. Sometimes you put us all in a very difficult position. We may one day make the wrong decision.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Barnet hasn't.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

I certainly wouldn't say the Kray twins is a miscarriage of justice. And of course what I'm asking for Lord Harris is a guarantee from the MPA, from you as Chairman, that money is being spent on matters that are relevant to the people of London, such as street crime and not on 30 year old murder cases where all the suspects are dead?

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Thank you Chair, just moving on. Lord Harris, did you hear media reports earlier in the week that apparently the Met intends to reopen investigations into the 30-year-old Kray murders? Now are not the public really fed up with this sort of scurrilous and nonsensical reopening of old cases that have no value and don't tackle the crime issues? Is not police time better spent on other more relevant matters?

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Just a last one, Chairman and you've been very kind on this. I don't know, my experience may be different to your experience, but my experience is the Chairman of Committees goes through reports that go to Committees and have some control on the Agenda. Is that true, or not in the case of the MPA? And therefore, if it is not for whatever it is, perhaps we need a scrutiny committee on the performance of the MPA?

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Just to go back to it, but you said, "I said on 12 December that in retrospect you should have discussed and gone into things in more detail yourself earlier". Are there any other areas, other than the last consultation, you feel you should have got yourself involved in, in more detail, in terms of the budget process? I do acknowledge that since the overspend you have initiated a separate group, which you've got personally involved in, and have been working extremely hard on the overspend, but you see where I'm coming from. I find it odd that we have...

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

The view, presumably by most people out there, on police overtime, is that if we are to recruit more policemen (and we're recruiting more policemen this year, which you've quite rightly said and there's a target for more policeman by next year) then by definition the overtime budget should be reducing substantially. Now in your view the target's we've set for paying overtime next year, are they realistic, are they over-optimistic, or what are they in terms of the fact, if we hit our targets in terms of recruitment?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

I won't take up too much time, I just want one other question about the management consultants and financial management consultants that have been looking over the MPS budget. Now do you have meetings with them, because we don't, and I would like to suggest that they come and address a Finance Planning and Best Value Committee as to how they're getting on, because we just hear third hand how it's all working out, and then we work in the dark as to how much savings we can actually put through, like £60 odd million now. So do you have...

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Thank you for the very long answer. Can I just ask then, who is running the MPA?