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

But with a budgeted workforce target, by March 2002 we would have deployed 662 officers through £28 million, or whatever is paid for those officers, so the precept's already paid for that. I'm asking, where do all the other officers go, because in fact, until you decided to move that the allocation should be determined by the figures in December, they were in fact only 200. So do you not think that perhaps New Scotland Yard are becoming too centralised, they've forgotten that major crime happens in the boroughs, and the council tax preceptor is paying for it, and is...

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

I'm worried about it being shown under both. And that's what I'm getting at.

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

Lord Harris, I want to discuss the RAF and when I'm discussing it, I'm talking about it as a budgetary issue, value for money, so it's not just a human resources question. Now this year the Mayor precepted for 1050 officers and we know that we are going to get there. We've been told that by the end of this financial year we will actually get there and we also cover retention problems. So that's great. In 2002/2003 the Mayor says he wants to get 1240 officers again through the precept. My first question is, is there a double whammy...

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

I am well aware of the state of chairmanship in the MPA, and I don't necessarily direct that at you. But I am well aware of papers, very, very important papers that come on the table, and you saying that certain colleagues don't like the idea of you vetting them is far from reality. You know that the independent members, a lot of them ex-councillors, do complain themselves about papers being laid on the table. Very important papers! However, you've got Commander Shave sitting behind you. Perhaps Commander Shave will be able to tell us, and there are MPS senior...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

Nearly a year ago at the end of the MPA meeting you asked us what are our priorities were for the next year, and I said then that as far as I was concerned the over-riding priority was to actually know or to get to grips with how the budget breaks down, that's how it breaks down between the centre and the local units and how it breaks down between divisions. We have no concept yet of the cost centres. It would be useful to know central administration costs, cross London initiative costs and other central costs in relation to...

• Question by: Lord Duvall of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich OBE
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

I'll just say to Assembly Members, you might want to look at the last Budget Committee minutes, where we had the MPS and the MPA, and we talked a little bit about territorial services and central services, and there are some further answers there that I'd urge members to look at as we come to debate this precept. My question is in two parts, Toby. It's really about the role of the MPA in making sure that the MPS stick to decisions around resources and policy, that make sense in getting out of messes that they're in, which if we...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

One final question which is about the transport policing initiative, and there are a whole range of questions that are going to be asked about this, but clearly it is setting a precedent whereby one part of the GLA family is entering into a service agreement with another part to establish a function. This does raise constitutional, and also accounting questions. How do you see this from the MPA's point of view? Would it not be clearer if there were simply a bid for £25 million as part of the MPA's budget, and if there was, do you think you...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

I just wanted to make it clear, I wouldn't want to go to BBC levels of accountancy, or former BBC levels of accounting, because I am not sure that that is helpful to any organisation. Any large organisation, and indeed any organisation, needs adequate and proper and robust systems of financial control, and adequate and robust systems, which provide financial information so that managers can carry out their functions. Obviously you couldn't imagine an organisation, which although it had a budget of £2 billion, would do something that was so simple and repetitive that it only actually needed one semi-trained...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

I think probably the most appalling recollection I have of reading a police paper this year, was the discovery that the increase of something like 20 accountants would more than double the number of accountants in an organisation with a budget of £2 billion. Can you tell us what is going to happen in the next year's budget to take this further forward in terms of numbers; accounting bums on seats?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 January 2002

In terms of your confidence curve you might call it, which you said started at 0.6 out of 10. The experience on the cost of police officers has taken you to what level of confidence on our understanding of that issue now?