• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Yes. I understand it's not known how many in the police force actually live outside London, though anecdotally we know it is a great many. In my negotiations with the South-East on the London Plan, one of the things which has come up is that the shires and the South-East find it very hard to recruit to their police forces. One of the reasons being given is the advantageous conditions that are offered in London. Would it not be sensible to offer the free rail fares and the pay lead, which is quite substantial, to those in London only as...

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

Second supplementary. Yes, it does concern me that when officers make decisions about where they might buy a house, free travel will obviously form a factor of that. But the second supplementary is about the Mayor's subsequent decision to offer free travel to traffic wardens including Metropolitan Police Service traffic wardens and whether you think this is an issue which will roll out even further in terms of public sector workers? Do you think civil staff, for example, should have free travel?

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

I think this is a very welcome initiative, particularly given the chronic recruitment problems that the service has had. My first supplementary is, though, to test this, I suppose. Is there a question of whether the operational efficiency of the service might be compromised by large numbers of officers travelling long distances? It's one thing if you're a stockbroker who can wing it in the Stock Exchange but if you're a police officer you can't really wing it on the streets of London if you've had a long journey. I'm not speaking about you personally, Andrew, by the way.

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Lord Harris, I'm looking at the Commissioner's Report for tomorrow that ethnic minority police officers are running at 4.1%. Do you think our target, which is to increase the percentage to 5% of minority ethnic police officers in the force, is ambitious enough?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Thank you. Can you tell us, from the stats that you've seen, what levels of concerns were there around racial discrimination against black officers in the Met? I ask this because clearly, if it is high, then this may well be an issue about why staff don't rise throughout the ranks.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Toby, thank you for that. I've got a two-part question. It seems to me that what you've said that the MPS is doing they would be doing anyway, so what difference is an MPA going to make to what their action is? Because my question is about really showing these people what the MPA as the authority can do to actually ensure that the plans of the MPA happen. So that's the first half. And then, related to that, and can I just say I was as thrilled as you were because I was on the appointing panel that appointed...

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

I appreciate the point that the traffic police service is now of a reduced size that means that economies of scale mean there will be a concentration in terms of the number of garages. But, nevertheless, I think that it has to be recognised that there is a loss of flexibility when there is a concentration in the number of traffic garages. And certainly, once again, I must say I regard it as most inappropriate to regard the question and answer as being a joke. But can I ask on the consultation on the resourcing, which I welcome and particularly...

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

Thank you very much. I think that Toby's irony unfortunately is misplaced and misjudged because quite clearly it was an important issue for Croydon and remains one, bearing in mind the difficulties that the traffic police will have in servicing an area all the way across to Cheam from Catford when it takes half-an-hour for a car on a blue light to be able to reach an incident. So, it is not a matter for irony, although I am glad to say that the calibre of the letter that I received from the Commander explaining the reasons for the closure...

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

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

I share Andrew's concern because I think this is the tip of an iceberg. We're talking about a cut in resources of traffic policing and we heard yesterday about the conviction of the person who had actually mown down the police constable who was doing his job at a speed trap, and the fact is the Met has consistently cut back on its resources for traffic policing. And therefore the closure of the garage in Croydon is merely an indicator of that. What I'm concerned about is that it means we won't have an opportunity to increase resources as we...