§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will approve the three-year capital programme for improving the efficiency of the police force of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesNo. I have not seen details of the programme in question, but the capital allocations announced in the White Paper on the Government's expenditure plans 1979–80 to 1982–83 (Cmnd. 7439) are sufficient only for a modest programme of new starts in 1981–82 and 1982–83, which have therefore had to be confined to those of the schemes currently accepted for planning which are regarded as carrying the highest operational priority. On this basis, it was not possible to include the one Hampshire scheme accepted fro planning amongst those on which starts have now been offered to the authorities concerned.