§ Mr. John Fraserasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time taken by (a) the investigating authorities and (b) the Police Complaints Board to deal with complaints against police in the Metropolitan area.
§ Mr. HurdThe report of the Police Complaints Board for 1983 records that the average period between receipt of a complaint by the Metropolitan police and submission of the investigation report to the board was 217 days in 1983. This excludes, on the one hand, cases where the investigation was delayed because of pending criminal proceedings, and, on the other, cases which were not submitted to the board because complainants withdrew their complaints or indicated that they wished no further action to be taken on them. In 1983, 47 per cent. of all complaints dealt with by the Metropolitan police were withdrawn or otherwise not proceeded with; action in such cases will generally be completed much more quickly, but precise information about this is not available.
The average time taken by the board to consider cases submitted to it from all forces was 46 days in 1983.