§ MR. HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the details of the alterations as to pay 701 and classes in the Metropolitan Police Force, appearing in the Times of 5th December, is accurate, and, in such case, why it is not proposed to extend to the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department the increased benefits accruing to the uniform branch, having regard especially to their skillfully performed and onerous duties, and their subjection to many expenses which are not recoverable; and if it is intended in any way to endeavour to meet the extra cost of lodgings in the inner divisions compared to the outer districts?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI have not compared the statements which have appeared without authority in the Press with the scheme which I have recently sanctioned, and which in due course I have undertaken to lay on the Table of the House. The scheme applies to all constables alike, whether in the uniform force or in the Criminal Investigation Department. The pay of the higher officers of that Department is on a different footing from the rest of the force, and has been constantly revised up to quite recent dates, and the scheme does not apply to them. Every effort has been made to arrive at some satisfactory method of dealing with the lodging question separately, but no working arrangement has been found possible.