• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Related to the capacity of Hendon, is it not a fact that very many of the recruits in training in fact cannot be accommodated at Hendon and are accommodated nearby in hotels and the like and that our long-term proposals for increasing the number of new police recruits is in fact severely inhibited by the lack of capacity at Hendon and in our search, or perhaps I should say the Government's and the Mayor's search to rapidly increase police numbers, because of these bottle necks at Hendon the training is not as good as it would otherwise have been.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

So nevertheless actually talking about how we're going to put these extra police officers on the street, partly through the Home Office financing, partly through GLA budget, could actually be leading to massive over-expectations if we cannot actually get the right number through?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I would just ask you about the story which I am sure a number of us read, that you have obviously just despatched with a, "No, I can"t say a lot" but actually there were members of the Police Federation who were happy to say that they had real concerns about the fact that some of these people were spending a number of weeks doing gardening because there were not actually the spaces for them on the training courses. I don't think it is just grabbed out of air. Clearly it has been confirmed by members of the Police Federation...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

One of the things that concerns many of us is the deliverability of the Mayor's pledge to get a 1,050 extra police officers. Firstly, are we satisfied that sufficient capacity exists to achieve that? Secondly, what are we going to, perhaps by way of looking with comparisons at best practice elsewhere again, how do our training arrangements - the length of time that it takes, the criteria that was set for recruitment - compare with other major cities, either on the continent or indeed in north America, for example, where there are comparatives? Can we have an assurance that he...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

And I also believe that members of the Authority should visit other police forces to see what they're doing because Amsterdam has cuts its recruitment programme from 18 months to 9 weeks. They've also set targets of 30% ethnic minority, 30% women, and 40% others for their police service. But what impressed me as well was their targeted advertising for recruitment and the fact that they had outsourced it totally and professionally, or almost totally and professionally. But what I've been trying to get, and I know you have as well since we became members of the MPA, is an...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I think your reference to Bexley highlights the concern that has been expressed earlier in discussion about perhaps the need to broaden the terms of the enquiry that Graham's project group is undertaking so that we can have an assurance for people that adequate resources will be made available for territorial policing and, are you perhaps aware, that the confidence of people in Bexley in this review has not exactly been helped by the fact that that meeting we had took place in November, as you will be aware, there having been a petition of some 37,000 residents of Bexley...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I think we would all agree, certainly the last couple of speakers, that the problem with the resource allocation formula is that it is biased against outer London boroughs. In particular, it does not take into account the sort of problems that we have in substantial town centres like Bromley, like Croydon and of course like Romford. I wonder, Mr Chairman, if you would accept an invitation to join me on a Saturday evening around Romford town centre to see first-hand the sort of problems which our very stretched police force have to cope with so that you may better...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I am just a little concerned as to how effective - whilst I accept the good intentions of the initial round of consultations - as to how effective it will be. I certainly have not received any questionnaire. I am not aware of the leader of Bexley council, for example, who has had quite a lot of correspondence as you know, having received it. Would you agree that the changing nature of many outer London boroughs, for example, witnessed by an increase in street crime in Bromley by 38% over the last 12 months, means that there is an increasing...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I hope your particular brand of ironic wit will not exacerbate any concerns of those who lose out from the formula when it comes about. As regards the formula itself, would there be a particular value in including one particular element of the formula which could be regarded as being predictive in terms of demands upon the police service, and that is to look at the different demographic shares that different boroughs have in numbers of young people within that population? Would that be a useful formula to consider within the resource allocation formula?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I'd like to turn Jenny's question round the other way, I suppose, and ask you whether on balance you think Londoners would be happy if that information was destroyed or if that information was retained, because it might provide, if adequately and properly managed, useful intelligence that would assist us in managing future demonstrations. The substantive question on the back of that is whether, although the MPA is going to have a debate on this, you think there are grounds for a wider public debate on issues of this kind, because it's something that's been debated at length in Parliament...