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

Would you agree that there was a cost to this very successful, and to most of us, I think most Londoners, happily successful police operation both in financial terms and in the fact, of course, that again those very outer London boroughs and other boroughs had to be denuded for a period of time of officers to make the presence available that was necessary to deal with this? Have we perhaps come to a stage where we should not expect Londoners to have to pay the level of price that they are having to both in financial terms and in...

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

I am sure that had the demonstrators been allowed to rampage through London as last year doing damage and frightening innocent people, our colleagues the Liberal Democrats would have been the first to come here and complain about it. Personally I would like to congratulate the Commissioner on the way that he handled this demonstration and I am sure that most of us in this room who are not at the extreme ends of the table would share that viewpoint. To come to the question though, not so long ago you were involved with other people in parliament who voted...

• Question by: Louise Bloom
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

As I understand it very few people were actually allowed to leave. The poor chap who was apparently trying to change a CD was allowed to leave and one or two other people were allowed to leave, but basically people who were involved in peaceful lawful protest, who were unarmed, were kept there for seven hours which I believe is a clear breach of the Human Rights Act and I think the Metropolitan Police will have a lot to answer for and I feel that for you to pass it straight back is a total cop out. What do you...

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

Given that you are not sure about the extent of this threat, do you believe that this is money well spent?

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

Obviously the Home Office when they made this request felt that another fuel protest was very likely. Do you share their view that this is a major threat?

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

Lord Harris, I notice you have appreciated Merton's problem with only 303 but that is not 303 bodies, that is their workforce plus their vacancy level and it is that question around vacancy levels I want to talk to you about. 333 police officers have been identified, and given up by central and support departments. No, can I take that back, 333 police officers' posts have been identified. Now these are not bodies that have been transferred to the boroughs and what I would like to know is, was this a cynical exercise by the central and support departments -...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Quickly, if David Blunkett did go to Brixton Police Station yesterday one of the things he may have noticed is that it is almost impossible to hold a meeting in Brixton Police Station because of the noise from the air-conditioning and other plant and equipment there and they have to go elsewhere. Can I just urge you as Chair of the MPA to take a look at the building stock in Brixton as an urgent priority because it does need some attention and all the resources that the police service receive is important to their work and the building stock...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Thank you. I think we all recognise that the MPS and the MPA are struggling with serious London-wide issues but you used the phrase earlier on, "areas of greatest need" and I hope you would appreciate that the area I represent, Lambeth and Southwark, is one of the areas of greatest need. Street crime in Lambeth is I think twice the average of London. And yet if we look at any of the aspects of resource allocation for Lambeth as it is at the moment - we talked about the serious shortfall in staffing - it's about 10% of our...

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

Toby, are you aware that the terms of reference of the project board, which I chair, reviewing resource allocation formula are restricted simply and solely, not simply but solely, to looking at the allocation of that slice of the cake given to territorial policing? Would you agree with me that actually the bigger problem highlighted in the discussion this morning is the total amount that is allocated to territorial policing in the first place? When are we going to look at the division of the whole cake given to the Met, however large that is, and increase the amounts given...

• Question by: Trevor Phillips
• Meeting date: 01 January 2001

Thank you, and I hope that what you've said will be taken as a pretty clear signal that the MPS has broken with the days in which stop and search was effectively used as a biased tactic against one part of our community and that that part of the community can now be reassured that under the new MPA we are never going to return to those days. The issue of stop and search really has been around in various versions for about three decades but it exercised the PCCGs considerably in particular parts of London. I wonder if you...