§ Baroness Lane-Foxasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will place in the Library a copy of any report of a complaint under the Police Act into the raid by police on 11 houses in Railton Road, London, S.E.24, in July 1981; and whether they will make any further statement to the House about the subject matter of the complaint.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Elton)This was the subject of a special report made by the Police Complaints Board to my right honourable friend to which they referred in their annual report published on 13th April (H.C. 278). My right honourable friend's statement repeated in this House on 29th October 1981 [H.L. debates, cols, 1127–1132] confirmed that the important lessons learnt from the execution of the operation will be taken fully into account in the future.
The board's report was the first and so far the only such report made under Section 8(2) of the Police Act 1976, which empowers the board to make a report on any matters coming to its notice to which it considers attention should be drawn by reason of their gravity or other exceptional circumstances. A copy of the report has now been placed in the Library, together with a copy of my right honourable friend's reply in which he shared the board's concern and was satisfied after further inquiry that the Metropolitan Police had been quick to respond to the immediate and longer-term implications of these incidents.