§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to establish a mechanism for public scrutiny of the uses to which precepted money is put in each Metropolitan police district.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Metropolitan police is already accountable to Parliament, through my right hon. Friend as its police authority, for its use of public funds. Money raised through the receiver's precept on the boroughs and districts is not used for separately identifiable purposes, but forms part of the general income of the Metropolitan police which is applied to the needs of the Metropolitan police district as a whole.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any spending limits are set for each Metropolitan police district in each financial year; and what provision is made for senior officers in each district to assess the degree of underspending or overspending of budget figures at stages during the financial year.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Commission of Police of the Metropolis tells me that each division in the Metropolitan police district is given a yearly cash allocation for police overtime payments which cannot be exceeded without prior authority from New Scotland Yard. A monthly monitoring system provides divisional chief superintendents with the information needed to control their allocations. The possibility of developing further the use of local budgets is being studied.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library detailed information concerning the accounting methods and conventions used by the Metropolitan police.
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§ Mr. Giles ShawThe accounting methods and conventions used by the Metropolitan police follow closely those set out in "Government Accounting", published by HMSO (1986 edition ISBN 011560086).
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a detailed breakdown of Metropolitan police expenditure in the borough of Islington in 1985–86 and an estimated breakdown for 1986–87, according to the categories laid down in the Metropolitan police estimate reports, and including capital expenditure; if he will include a specific breakdown of items included in those sections categorised as other expenses; and if he will include detailed information for the specific items included in the following categories (a) A001 salaries and wages (police), (b) D035 communications equipment, (c) D036 radio equipment, (d) E041 purchase of transport, (e) E042 running costs of transport, (f) F053 training, (g) G066 Riot (Damages) Act 1866 expenses, and (h) H072 Special Constabulary.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis tells me that records are not kept in a form which would enable information to be provided on the basis specified in the question. The Metropolitan police estimates are constructed not on a geographical basis but according to type of expenditure force-wide. This reflects the fact that the Metropolitan police district is policed as a whole and not as 40 separate areas corresponding to local authority boundaries. Although a substantial proportion of manpower and other resources is based at divisional level, they are not used exclusively within or for the benefit of the particular division to which they are allocated. Conversely, substantial resources which are not divisionally based are used in support of the policing of divisions.
In a special exercise carried out recently by the receiver for the Metropolitan police district at the request of the London boroughs and districts, based on the commuted rate cost of the manpower actually allocated to divisions within each borough and district, augmented by a percentage addition for support costs, it was estimated that the salary and support costs of officers based in the borough of Islington totalled some £20 million.