Mr Allan Roberts: Local authorities have always spent money on publicising their policies and ideas. The Government object, not to that, but to the fact that the metropolitan counties and the GLC are publicising their ideas successfully. That is why they object to their grants policy. The objection is not that they have failed, but that they have been successful.
Tony McNulty: In planning terms, metropolitan open land is afforded the same protection as designated green belt. Government policy on the green belt, as set out in planning policy guidance 2, has not changed.
Diane Abbott: Is the hon. Gentleman seriously suggesting that the Government have adopted a wait and see policy on the terrorist threat, when exercises have been conducted and money has been spent? The efforts of the Mayor, Ministers and the Metropolitan police cannot be described as a "wait and see policy". That is an insult to dedicated professionals.
Lord Dholakia: My Lords, does Operation Kratos by the Metropolitan Police represent a shoot-to-kill policy? Is not the essential element of policing in this country its independence and public consent? Will she ensure that before such a policy is established, the approval of Parliament is obtained?
Siân Berry: Has the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) used drones to monitor gatherings of Londoners in the last twelve months? Could you provide details of the legal basis, safety policies and risk assessments, and the policies for image collection and retention for any such uses.
Simon Hughes: We have always believed that the metropolitan counties should be replaced by regional government. We opposed the setting up of the metropolitan counties, and we have never liked them. [Interruption.] It will be done by regional government, with many of the powers which Whitehall and this Secretary of State and his successors will inherit. Perhaps the Government should have paid more heed to...
Mr Patrick Jenkin: I will bow to your Ruling and will merely draw the attention of the House to the extent to which the policy has been eroded by the much freer consents that have been given, in the South-East region, in the Metropolitan region, and still more in the Greater London area, and even more so in the central area of Greater London. In my two eighteen month periods, in the central London area the...
Mr Norman Fowler: There is much in what my hon. Friend says. South Yorkshire has taken this policy further than any other authority. If we applied the policy adopted by South Yorkshire to the other metropolitan counties and to the Greater London Council, the cost would be over £500 million a year. I hope that, in the coming elections, the public will understand that.
Sadiq Khan: To date, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have not sought to locate missing persons using live facial recognition policy. The MPS’s use of live facial recognition technology to locate a person on a watchlist is in line with its policy documents here: https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/forc e-content/met/advice/lfr/mpf-lfr-guidance-document-v1-0.pdf.
Beverley Hughes: The Metropolitan Police Service is a member of Reflex, a multi-agency taskforce on organised immigration crime, including people trafficking. Reflex targets the organised criminals involved in the trafficking and smuggling of people. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the policy of the Metropolitan Police Service is to work with other agencies in detecting,...
Mr Richard Luce: ...under the chairmanship of Sir William Rees-Mogg, does an excellent job. Now that the council knows the total sum of money available, it will carefully judge how to allocate funds to the GLC and the metropolitan areas. This allocation is up to the Arts Council, as I frequently say. I want to give some encouragement to the Arts Council's so-called policy of regional development. This good...
Mr Kenneth Baker: The hon. Gentleman has made the point that my right hon. Friend made about the abolition of the metropolitan counties. The Government are very much it favour of the devolution of services to local authorities. As my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg) indicated, that is the thrust of our policy. I appreciate that Burnley used to be a county borough and that it had greater degree of...
Rob Marris: I welcome the Bill. My constituency contains a metropolitan authority, and I have some interest in transport because I am one of the few Members, if not the only Member, who used to be a bus driver. I drove a bus for three years before entering the House. However, I appreciate that the Bill is not just about buses. I was very saddened by the speech of the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet...
Mr Julian Amery: Only up to 1969. In October my right hon. Friend and I met the G.L.C. and the London Boroughs Association to lay the foundation of a common policy designed to produce the beginnings of a strategy for dealing with a problem which we thought had not as yet been effectively tackled. In April I met the leaders of the stress area boroughs to discuss the consequences and conclusions of the Francis...
Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether, in the light of Lord Bassam of Brighton's statements on the Art and Antiques Unit of the Metropolitan Police that "there is no threat to the current staffing levels of the unit" (Official Report, 20 February, col. 998) and that "There is no intention in the Metropolitan Police Service to cut the activity of this unit" (Official Report, 20 February,...
Mr Robin Squire: ..., at least at the moment, to be remote. The other anomaly which the new clause seeks to tackle is in section 64 and schedule 11, in which provision is made for block grants in respect of the Metropolitan Police to be paid to the rating authorities in the Metropolitan Police district. That provision reduces the accountability of the rating authorities and of the Metropolitan Police. It...
Jack Straw: ...right. As with police authorities outside London, the majority of members will be elected and will come from the Greater London assembly, with the exception of the representative from outside the Metropolitan area. The other members will be magistrates and independents, and will be selected in similar proportions to those in other police authorities. Today's debate is a vivid reminder...
Malcolm Wicks: Given the average rent figures, and not least the higher figures in many metropolitan areas, does the Minister believe that ordinary families can now afford to be in unsubsidised housing association accommodation? Is not the effect of the policy to drive up housing benefit expenditure? How does that square with the declared policy of the Secretary of State for Social Security to drive down...
Colonel Sir Joseph Nall: There is a question of public policy arising on this that ought to be mentioned before the Bill passes on. As it came back from the Committee, as I think wrongly, the main line companies could not run these services in Central London at all. My hon. Friend has quite properly moved this Amendment which, subject to restriction, enables the main line companies to bring their running services...
Mr James Hudson: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the letter from the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police which the chief constable was asked to produce this year at the Sutton and Epsom Brewster Sessions; and if the policy outlined in the letter in favour of a uniform closing hour throughout the country is now the generally accepted policy of the Government.
