Mr. HARVEYasked the Home Secretary the nature of, and the reasons for, the instructions modifying the previous practice issued by the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police with respect to allowing, or refusing to allow, parties interested in street accidents, or their authorised legal representatives, to have access to the information collected by the police of such accidents?
Mr. STANLEYThere has been little change in the conditions under which abstracts of police reports, are furnished, except that, under the present practice, copies of any statements made to the police by witnesses are no longer supplied except to the persons who made them or their authorised representatives, and there has been an increase in the fees payable. The reasons for these changes were explained by my right hon. Friend in reply to questions on the 8th and 9th instant by the hon. Member for the West-houghton Division and the hon. Member for Leicester East.