• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Going back to the issue of road safety, there are much wider ramifications. For example, in Havering, where they do have a quite effective road safety team, they have actually, in the course of those duties, for example, found someone with an unlicensed gun in the car; they stopped one man for not wearing a seat belt and subsequently made nine arrests on the basis of that one stop because he was wanted for crimes, his girlfriend was wanted for crimes and so on. Is it possible to have a list of what each of the boroughs is doing on...

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Can I just ask how far we are down the line of being fully strategic rather than just meeting partners, where you are not just working on concentrating efforts where there are suitable partners? How far are we down the line to actually ensure that we are focussing where there is an apparent need?

• Question by: Lord Duvall of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich OBE
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

When do you think we'll be in a position to see with some confidence a longer-term budget strategy for the MPS?

• Question by: Lord Duvall of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich OBE
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

I think last year, was it last year, when Sir John Stevens came before the Budget Committee, by his own admission he indicated that he had inherited, I think he used the word a "mess". When do you expect those inherited issues to have been tidied up so that you can concentrate on the real financial issues that you have just outlined earlier on.

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

Are you satisfied that there is a genuine understanding amongst senior officers in the Metropolitan Police of the importance of budgetary accountability? Are you satisfied that there is a real determination to change a culture which many of us perceive to have been a sort of financial crisis management year upon year, and when do you think we are likely to start seeing some positive results that will enable you to be more confident, to use your own phrase?

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

Shortly after the meeting which you referred to when the motion was agreed here, it became apparent that there were further savings within the net police budget around the execution of magistrates' warrants which had not been reported to the Assembly during the budget process, despite the fact that they had become apparent, I understand, in December. Can you explain to us why they were omitted from the budget, and can you undertake that yourself and Graham Tope will be more open with us next year?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Well, I must say I am very heartened to hear that it is such a high priority for the MPA and MPS. But then that brings us on to the real key issue which is about funding and with the reassessment of the borough funding formula looming, will the MPA be taking into account the relative use of translation services by a borough command unit and take into account the amount of time that takes front-line officers away from front-line duties in the allocation of money for borough command units?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Well, thank you for that. But one of the concerns that I'm sure not just I have but others representing certainly inner London areas where there is a high need to use these facilities, I think particularly, for instance, of Hackney where the access to translators and interpreters can take some time and obviously there are a number of sensitivities involved. It's no good having someone just speaking the language, in some cases there are often cultural issues which need to be taken on board. My concern is that there perhaps isn't a readily accessible pool at any one time...

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

You've gone some way into this question but it is about police officers, specifically police officers with minority language skills. There is a fairly common frustration, I think, that minority community officers may be recruited in one community, trained at Hendon, and then allocated without any apparent consideration of the community into which they are going. Obviously, it's a twin-edged sword because we want to create professional officers who will work anywhere but clearly where there are particular language issues, do you feel the police should have a line on this?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Thank you. Toby, whilst clearly a very high standard is required for interpreters and translators who are involved with evidence taking and that's appropriate, a rather lesser standard is a lot better than nothing in terms of simple communication with people who do not speak English. Can you tell us what use the Met and police stations make of other interpretation facilities available? Many local authorities have lists of local interpreters and so on which can certainly be used for routine communication purposes. Is that done?